IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v5y2013i7p2856-2873d26755.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

From Transit Migrants to Trading Migrants: Development Opportunities for Nigerians in the Transnational Trade Sector of Istanbul

Author

Listed:
  • Joris Schapendonk

    (International Development Studies, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands)

Abstract

This paper critically discusses the relation between human mobility and development. It moves away from conventional migration-development policy discussions that mainly focus on diaspora-like actors, who have established a stable and integrated socio-economic position in the destination countries. Instead, it looks at mobility-development dynamics in the context of less privileged and less integrated migrants; Nigerian migrants who are (or have been) living in transit-like situations in the city of Istanbul (Turkey). Based on in-depth interviews with Nigerian migrants, it analyses migrants’ personal developments in the light of their migration trajectories. The analysis particularly shows how upward social mobility is not so much found in onward migration to Europe, but in getting involved in a different form of mobility; informally arranged transnational trade between Turkey and West Africa. It outlines the diverse roles of migrants in this informal trade sector and elaborates on their relations with fly in/fly out traders originating from Africa. With these empirical insights, I conclude that these migrants do not belong to settled diaspora communities, but nevertheless, act as bridges between “here” and “there” and contribute to the creation of (new) development corridors.

Suggested Citation

  • Joris Schapendonk, 2013. "From Transit Migrants to Trading Migrants: Development Opportunities for Nigerians in the Transnational Trade Sector of Istanbul," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(7), pages 1-18, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:5:y:2013:i:7:p:2856-2873:d:26755
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/5/7/2856/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/5/7/2856/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Felbermayr, Gabriel J. & Toubal, Farid, 2012. "Revisiting the Trade-Migration Nexus: Evidence from New OECD Data," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 928-937.
    2. Annelies Zoomers & Gery Nijenhuis, 2012. "Does Migration Lead to Development? Or is it Contributing to a Global Divide?," Societies, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-17, September.
    3. James F. Hollifield & Pia M. Orrenius & Thomas Osang, 2006. "Migration, trade, and development: an overview," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, pages 3-8.
    4. Ronald Skeldon, 2008. "International Migration as a Tool in Development Policy: A Passing Phase?," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 34(1), pages 1-18, March.
    5. Giovanni Peri & Francisco Requena‐Silvente, 2010. "The trade creation effect of immigrants: evidence from the remarkable case of Spain," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(4), pages 1433-1459, November.
    6. Gould, David M, 1994. "Immigrant Links to the Home Country: Empirical Implications for U.S. Bilateral Trade Flows," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(2), pages 302-316, May.
    7. Huib Ernste & Karel Martens & Joris Schapendonk, 2012. "The Design, Experience and Justice of Mobility," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 103(5), pages 509-515, December.
    8. James E. Rauch & Vitor Trindade, 2002. "Ethnic Chinese Networks In International Trade," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(1), pages 116-130, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Daeheon Choi & Chune Young Chung & Jason Young, 2019. "Are Economic Distance and Geographic Remoteness Important in Sustainable Trade? Evidence from the Bilateral Trade between China and Kazakhstan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-20, November.
    2. Arash Kordestani & Setayesh Sattari & Kaveh Peighambari & Pejvak Oghazi, 2017. "Exclude Me Not: The Untold Story of Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Sweden," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-22, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mathias Bühler, 2023. "Trade and Regional Economic Development," CESifo Working Paper Series 10270, CESifo.
    2. Alfano, Vincenzo & Gaeta, Giuseppe Lucio & Petraglia, Carmelo & Vecchione, Gaetano, 2022. "Back to the future: the long-term effects of skilled migration on tech-intensive trade," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 25-34.
    3. Giorgia Giovannetti & Mauro Lonati, 2014. "The impact of product quality on the pro-trade elasticity of immigrants," Working Papers - Economics wp2014_11.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    4. Simone Moriconi & Giovanni Peri & Dario Pozzoli, 2020. "The role of institutions and immigrant networks in firms’ offshoring decisions," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(4), pages 1745-1792, November.
    5. Christopher Parsons, 2011. "Do Migrants Really Foster Trade? The Trade-Migration Nexus, a Panel Approach 1960-2000," Discussion Papers 11/10, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    6. Ariu, Andrea, 2022. "Foreign workers, product quality, and trade: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    7. Marina Murat, 2014. "Soft, hard or smart power? International students and investments abroad," Center for Economic Research (RECent) 107, University of Modena and Reggio E., Dept. of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    8. Inmaculada Martínez‐Zarzoso & Robert Rudolf, 2020. "The trade facilitation impact of the Chinese diaspora," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(9), pages 2411-2436, September.
    9. Figueiredo, Erik & Lima, Luiz Renato & Orefice, Gianluca, 2020. "Migration, trade and spillover effects," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 405-421.
    10. Marina Murat, 2018. "Foreign education and international trade: empirical evidence from selected Latin American countries," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 84-103, January.
    11. Christopher R. Parsons & L. Alan Winters, 2014. "International migration, trade and aid: a survey," Chapters, in: Robert E.B. Lucas (ed.), International Handbook on Migration and Economic Development, chapter 4, pages 65-112, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Samuel Admassu, 2019. "A comparative analysis of African and Asian migrants’ effect on trade," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 2079-2092, June.
    13. Giorgia Giovannetti & Mauro Lanati, 2017. "Do High-Skill Immigrants trigger High-Quality Trade?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(7), pages 1345-1380, July.
    14. Marina Murat, 2013. "Education ties and investments abroad. Empirical evidence from the US and UK," Department of Economics (DEMB) 0014, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Department of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    15. Hélène Ehrhart & Maëlan Le Goff & Emmanuel Rocher & Raju Jan Singh, 2012. "Does Migration Foster Exports? An African Perspective," Working Papers 2012-38, CEPII research center.
    16. Egger, Peter H. & Ehrlich, Maximilian v. & Nelson, Douglas R., 2020. "The trade effects of skilled versus unskilled migration," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 448-464.
    17. Bühler, Mathias, 2023. "Trade and Regional Economic Development," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277609, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    18. Marina Murat, 2014. "Soft, hard or smart power? International students and investments abroad," Department of Economics 0043, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    19. repec:mod:depeco:0014 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Mariya Aleksynska & Giovanni Peri, 2014. "Isolating the Network Effect of Immigrants on Trade," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(3), pages 434-455, March.
    21. Roy Allen & John Rehbeck, 2019. "Assessing Misspecification and Aggregation for Structured Preferences," University of Western Ontario, Departmental Research Report Series 20194, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:5:y:2013:i:7:p:2856-2873:d:26755. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.