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Emigrant or Sojourner? Migration Intensity and Its Determinants

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  • Florian Kaufmann

Abstract

This Working Paper develops the concept of 'migration intensity'--the degree to which a migrant shifts his attachment, association and engagement from his place of origin to the migration destination. Among male Mexican migrants to the United States, Kaufmann finds strong complementarities among remittances, migration patterns, and localized investments in physical, social and human capital. Based on these, he derives an Index of Migration Intensity (IMI). The IMI reveals that the majority of Mexicans have low levels of migration intensity, but migration intensity has been growing over time. Migration intensity varies as expected: education, prior migration experience, foreign family ties, and original residence in communities with few economic opportunities all promote higher migration intensity. From the standpoint of sending countries, low migration intensity has the desirable effects of enhancing positive financial transfers and mitigating the resource losses connected to the human outflow. From the standpoint of receiving countries, low migration intensity may also be desirable, depending on policy goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Florian Kaufmann, 2007. "Emigrant or Sojourner? Migration Intensity and Its Determinants," Working Papers wp154, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    • Handle: RePEc:uma:periwp:wp154
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    Cited by:

    1. Loc Duc Nguyen & Ulrike Grote & Rasadhika Sharma, 2017. "Staying in the cities or returning home? An analysis of the rural-urban migration behavior in Vietnam," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-18, December.
    2. Kalandi Charan Pradhan & K. Narayanan, 2019. "Intensity of labour migration and its determinants: insights from Indian semi-arid villages," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 955-994, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    International Migration; Migration Strategies; Assimilation; Return Migration; Remittances;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy

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