IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/prodev/v20y2020i2p119-139.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Wealth inequality and inter-governorate migration: Evidence from Egypt

Author

Listed:
  • Mohamed Arouri

    (Université Nice Sophia Antipolis, France)

  • Nguyen Viet Cuong

    (Institute of Theoretical and Applied Research (ITAR), Duy Tan University, Da Nang, Vietnam
    Thang Long Institute of Mathematics and Applied Sciences, Thang Long University, Hanoi, Vietnam)

Abstract

Migration is one of the key livelihood strategies for households, especially those in low-income and middle-income regions. In this study, we investigate whether the economic level and inequality of wealth can affect inter-governorate migration in Egypt. Using gravity models and data from Population and Housing Censuses of Egypt, we are able to measure the push as well as pull effects of economic and wealth inequality levels on internal migration flows. Although there are a large number of studies on the effect of economic levels on migration, there is little if anything known about the effect of wealth inequality between the origin and destination areas on migration. We measure wealth levels using the household asset index. We find that people tend to move to governorates with high wealth levels as well as high wealth inequality. There is a positive association between wealth inequality and economic growth in Egypt. Governorates with high wealth inequality tend to experience high economic growth and therefore attract more migrants. This study’s findings also suggest that unlike non-work migration, the low wealth level in origin governorates is a push factor for work migration.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohamed Arouri & Nguyen Viet Cuong, 2020. "Wealth inequality and inter-governorate migration: Evidence from Egypt," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 20(2), pages 119-139, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:20:y:2020:i:2:p:119-139
    DOI: 10.1177/1464993420910554
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1464993420910554
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1464993420910554?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Phan, Diep & Coxhead, Ian, 2010. "Inter-provincial migration and inequality during Vietnam's transition," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 100-112, January.
    2. Gourieroux, Christian & Monfort, Alain & Trognon, Alain, 1984. "Pseudo Maximum Likelihood Methods: Theory," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 681-700, May.
    3. Timothy J. Hatton & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2002. "What Fundamentals Drive World Migration?," NBER Working Papers 9159, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Ralph Rotte & Michael Vogler, 2000. "The effects of development on migration: Theoretical issues and new empirical evidence," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 13(3), pages 485-508.
    5. Raven Molloy & Christopher L. Smith & Abigail Wozniak, 2011. "Internal Migration in the United States," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(3), pages 173-196, Summer.
    6. Charles Ackah & Denis Medvedev, 2012. "Internal migration in Ghana: determinants and welfare impacts," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 39(10), pages 764-784, August.
    7. Gourieroux, Christian & Monfort, Alain & Trognon, Alain, 1984. "Pseudo Maximum Likelihood Methods: Applications to Poisson Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 701-720, May.
    8. Manning, W. G. & Duan, N. & Rogers, W. H., 1987. "Monte Carlo evidence on the choice between sample selection and two-part models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 59-82, May.
    9. John Gibson & David McKenzie & Steven Stillman, 2011. "The Impacts of International Migration on Remaining Household Members: Omnibus Results from a Migration Lottery Program," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(4), pages 1297-1318, November.
    10. Pernia, Ernesto & Kakwani, Nanak, 2000. "What is Pro-poor Growth?," MPRA Paper 104987, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. David Card, 2009. "Immigration and Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 1-21, May.
    12. Andrew Goudie & Paul Ladd, 1999. "Economic growth, poverty and inequality," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(2), pages 177-195.
    13. Raul Ramos, 2016. "Gravity models: A tool for migration analysis," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 239-239, February.
    14. Deininger, Klaus & Olinto, Pedro, 2000. "Asset distribution, inequality, and growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2375, The World Bank.
    15. David McKenzie & John Gibson & Steven Stillman, 2010. "How Important Is Selection? Experimental vs. Non-Experimental Measures of the Income Gains from Migration," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 8(4), pages 913-945, June.
    16. Stark, Oded & Bloom, David E, 1985. "The New Economics of Labor Migration," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(2), pages 173-178, May.
    17. Boris Pleskovic & Nicholas Stern, 2001. "Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics 2000," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14010, December.
    18. J. M. C. Santos Silva & Silvana Tenreyro, 2006. "The Log of Gravity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(4), pages 641-658, November.
    19. Stark, Oded & Taylor, J Edward, 1991. "Migration Incentives, Migration Types: The Role of Relative Deprivation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(408), pages 1163-1178, September.
    20. Anzelika Zaiceva & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2008. "Scale, diversity, and determinants of labour migration in Europe," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 24(3), pages 428-452, Autumn.
    21. Alain de Janvry & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2000. "Growth, Poverty, And Inequality In Latin America: A Causal Analysis, 1970–94," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 46(3), pages 267-287, September.
    22. Stanislav Kolenikov & Gustavo Angeles, 2009. "Socioeconomic Status Measurement With Discrete Proxy Variables: Is Principal Component Analysis A Reliable Answer?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(1), pages 128-165, March.
    23. Deon Filmer & Kinnon Scott, 2012. "Assessing Asset Indices," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(1), pages 359-392, February.
    24. Bhagwati, Jagdish N., 1988. "Poverty and public policy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 539-555, May.
    25. Deon Filmer & Lant Pritchett, 2001. "Estimating Wealth Effects Without Expenditure Data—Or Tears: An Application To Educational Enrollments In States Of India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(1), pages 115-132, February.
    26. World Bank, 2014. "World Development Indicators 2014," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 18237, December.
    27. Duan, Naihua, et al, 1983. "A Comparison of Alternative Models for the Demand for Medical Care," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 1(2), pages 115-126, April.
    28. Jackline Wahba, 2015. "Selection, selection, selection: the impact of return migration," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(3), pages 535-563, July.
    29. de Janvry, Alain & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 2000. "Growth, Poverty, and Inequality in Latin America: A Causal Analysis, 1970-94," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 46(3), pages 267-287, September.
    30. David McKenzie, 2005. "Measuring inequality with asset indicators," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(2), pages 229-260, June.
    31. Terry McKinley, 1993. "The Distribution of Wealth in Rural China," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Keith Griffin & Zhao Renwei (ed.), The Distribution of Income in China, chapter 4, pages 116-134, Palgrave Macmillan.
    32. Anna Mayda, 2010. "International migration: a panel data analysis of the determinants of bilateral flows," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(4), pages 1249-1274, September.
    33. Harris, John R & Todaro, Michael P, 1970. "Migration, Unemployment & Development: A Two-Sector Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 126-142, March.
    34. Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2013. "The relationship between economic growth and inequality," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(2), pages 113-139, August.
    35. ., 2001. "Six Decades of Economic and Social Development Policies," Chapters, in: The Economic North–South Divide, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    36. David Karemera & Victor Iwuagwu Oguledo & Bobby Davis, 2000. "A gravity model analysis of international migration to North America," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(13), pages 1745-1755.
    37. Herrera, Santiago & Badr, Karim, 2012. "Internal migration in Egypt : levels, determinants, wages, and likelihood of employment," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6166, The World Bank.
    38. Grogger, Jeffrey & Hanson, Gordon H., 2011. "Income maximization and the selection and sorting of international migrants," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 42-57, May.
    39. Nanak Kakwani & Ernesto M. Pernia, 2000. "What is Pro-poor Growth?," Asian Development Review (ADR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 18(01), pages 1-16.
    40. Lipton, Michael, 1980. "Migration from rural areas of poor countries: The impact on rural productivity and income distribution," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 1-24, January.
    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. Zhishan Ma & Susu Zhang & Sidong Zhao, 2021. "Study on the Spatial Pattern of Migration Population in Egypt and Its Flow Field Characteristics from the Perspective of “Source-Flow-Sink”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-27, January.

    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. Mohamed El Hedi Arouri & Nguyen Viet Cuong, 2018. "On the Impact of Household Asset level and Inequality on Inter-governorate Migration: Evidence from Egypt," Working Papers 1182, Economic Research Forum, revised 12 Apr 2018.
    2. Long Thanh Giang & Cuong Viet Nguyen & Hoa Quynh Nguyen, 2020. "The Impacts of Economic Growth and Governance on Migration: Evidence from Vietnam," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(4), pages 1195-1229, September.
    3. Adel Ben Youssef & Mohamed Arouri & Cuong Viet Nguyen, 2017. "Is Internal Migration A Way to Cope With Climate Change? Evidence From Egypt," Working Papers 1099, Economic Research Forum, revised 05 2017.
    4. Coxhead, Ian & Vu, Linh & Nguyen, Cuong, 2016. "Migration in Vietnam: New Evidence from Recent Surveys," MPRA Paper 70217, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Nguyen, Cuong Viet, 2021. "Do weather extremes induce people to move? Evidence from Vietnam," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 118-141.
    6. Gröger, André, 2021. "Easy come, easy go? Economic shocks, labor migration and the family left behind," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    7. Nicole B. Simpson & Chad Sparber, 2013. "The Short‐ and Long‐Run Determinants of Less‐Educated Immigrant Flows into U.S. States," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 80(2), pages 414-438, October.
    8. Kashif Imran & Evelyn S. Devadason & Cheong Kee Cheok, 2019. "Developmental Impacts of Remittances on Migrant-Sending Households: Micro-Level Evidence from Punjab, Pakistan," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 14(3), pages 338-366, December.
    9. Winters, P. & Kafle, K. & Benfica, R., 2018. "IFAD RESEARCH SERIES 21 - Does relative deprivation induce migration? Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," IFAD Research Series 280070, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
    10. Ron Boschma & Simona Iammarino & Raffaele Paci & Jordy Suriñach & Raul Ramos & Jordi Suriñach, 2017. "A Gravity Model of Migration Between the ENC and the EU," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 108(1), pages 21-35, February.
    11. Michael Clemens, 2014. "Does Development Reduce Migration? - Working Paper 359," Working Papers 359, Center for Global Development.
    12. Peter Huber & Doris A. Oberdabernig & Jesús Crespo Cuaresma & Anna Raggl, 2015. "Migration in an Ageing Europe: What are the Challenges? WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 79," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 57886, April.
    13. Simon Winter, 2020. "“It’s the Economy, Stupid!”: On the Relative Impact of Political and Economic Determinants on Migration," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 39(2), pages 207-252, April.
    14. Gianluca Orefice, 2015. "International migration and trade agreements: The new role of PTAs," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 48(1), pages 310-334, February.
    15. Adams, Richard Jr. & Page, John, 2005. "Do international migration and remittances reduce poverty in developing countries?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1645-1669, October.
    16. Wei Ha & Junjian Yi & Junsen Zhang, 2009. "Inequality and Internal Migration in China: Evidence from Village Panel Data," Human Development Research Papers (2009 to present) HDRP-2009-27, Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), revised Jul 2009.
    17. Dustmann, Christian & Okatenko, Anna, 2014. "Out-migration, wealth constraints, and the quality of local amenities," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 52-63.
    18. Michel Beine & Simone Bertoli & Jesús Fernández-Huertas Moraga, 2016. "A Practitioners’ Guide to Gravity Models of International Migration," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 496-512, April.
    19. Simpson, Nicole & Sparber, Chad, 2010. "The Short-and Long-Run Determinants of Unskilled Immigration into US States," Working Papers 2010-06, Department of Economics, Colgate University.
    20. Garcia, Pablo M & Rodriguez-Montemayor, Eduardo, 2010. "A primer of international migration: The Latin American experience and a proposal for a research agenda," MPRA Paper 24147, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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:sae:prodev:v:20:y:2020:i:2:p:119-139. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.