Essays on Migration between Senegal and Europe: Migration Attempts, Investment at Origin and Returnees’ Occupational Status

The aim of the thesis is to contribute to the better understanding of determinants and consequences of international migration from Senegal, a West-African country with a longstanding tradition of migration to both African and European countries. Using a longitudinal (retrospective) and multi-sited micro dataset on 'Migration between Africa and Europe' (MAFE-SN), three selected topics are explored empirically. Firstly, the research examines the role of individual and contextual factors for the migration decision-making process, analysing jointly selection into migration attempts and departure. Results indicate that selection processes at the decision and realisation stages do not necessarily coincide, for instance with regard to the role of sex, education, but also immigration policies. Secondly, the impact of international migration experience on investments in real estate or business assets in the country of origin is examined. Direct migration experience is found to stimulate investment, though the effect varies according to the type of asset, the location and the destination region. International migration also appears as a way to overcome certain social disadvantages in terms of access to property. However, nonmigrants with access to migrant networks are not more likely to invest. Thirdly, the thesis investigates the effect of return migrant status on occupational attainment in Dakar. The main result obtained, a positive effect on self-employment, conforms to previous studies' findings on other countries. Yet, when using variables on the hierarchical socio-economic status or prestige position of the occupation, the positive effect of return migration is confined to wage-employed activities. In addition to the empirical analyses, the thesis contributes to the conceptual and methodological discussion on measurement of immigration policies. A database with detailed data on immigration policies in France, Italy and Spain over the period from 1960 to 2008 is constructed and qualitative information is converted into quantitative scores