Jessica Hagen-Zanker

Why Do People Migrate? A Review of the Theoretical Literature

Massey et al. (1994) is a ground-breaking paper in the migration literature that discusses and unifies different migration theories. However, their review and synthesis is incomplete and fairly brief for researchers interested in a deeper understanding of the migration theory literature. This paper therefore aims to review the complete spectrum of economic migration theory from the 1950s until today and to show the differences and complementarities between the different approaches.

The Determinants of Remittances: A Review of the Literature

In this paper we review the current state of literature on the determinants of remittances since it is important to understand remittance flows from a policy perspective since they affect the lives of so many people around the world. While the decision to remit may be clearly linked to the causes of migration, for example, in the theory the New Economics of Labour Migration, we take the causes of migration literature as given and broadly focus on the determinants of remittances. Most of the literature is based on empirical applications; hence we will focus on clearly summarising existing findings before comparing the results to our own. We start by giving the theoretical background of the determinants of remittances and then briefly discuss the literature that focuses on the macroeconomic level. We find the main theoretical determents of remittances to be altruism, insurance, the bequest motive, loan repayment, and the exchange motive. We then move to a more extensive section on the empirical applications of the micro-economic determinants of remittances. We conclude with a summary of findings from the literature.

What do we know about the impact of social protection programmes on the decision to migrate

Migration can be considered an informal coping strategy in a bigger portfolio of livelihood choices. In theory, the availability of other livelihoods sources – like formal social protection – affects the decision to migrate. Access to social protection may either increase or decrease the likelihood of migration and there are theoretical arguments for both. This literature review synthesises the current empirical evidence on how access to social protection in low-income and middle-income countries influences decisions to migrate internally or internationally. The 29 reviewed studies show that access to social protection can affect the propensity to migrate in a number of ways, with about half showing that migration increased and the other half showing that migration decreased. The relationship between access to social protection and migration flows is clearly not linear. How a programme is designed and implemented is important. If implemented well, programmes that give households a dependable income source in areas of origin may be able to prevent migration. Context is critical: in areas of origin with poor employment prospects, social protection can only temporarily prevent migration. It is important to understand the reasons underpinning the migration decision and the constraints that have prevented migration so far.

A Critical Discussion of the Motivations to Remit in Albania and Moldova

Since the 1980s, the theoretical and empirical literature on the motivations to remit has grown steadily. We review the microeconomic literature and show that the theoretical motivations to remit are overlapping while competing. We argue that in most cases this differentiation is unnecessary and makes the subsequent empirical applications weak. We apply the theories in Albania and Moldova, two countries that experience high migration and remittance flows, using household survey data. We focus on finding evidence for the theoretical motivations to remit such as altruism, loan repayment, co-insurance and the bequest motive and using a similar methodology and approach as previous empirical research. As for other empirical papers, the analysis leads to doubtful and multi-interpretable results. We argue that this problem is caused by weak operationalisation and inseparability of motives, compounded by data problems. Furthermore we argue that the decision to remit should not be looked at in isolation. It is apparent that the causes and patterns of migration in Albania and Moldova influence the remitting behaviour and most migrants migrate in order to remit. It is thus vital to link the decision to migrate with the decision to remit and to broaden the focus beyond the economic literature and consequently provide a more relevant and clearer answer to the question why remittances are sent.

Do remittances and social assistance have different impacts on expenditure patterns of recipient households? The Moldovan Case

Do remittances and social assistance transfers have different impacts on household’s expenditure patterns? While two separate strands of literature have looked at how social assistance or remittances have been spent, few studies have compared them directly. Using data from a household survey conducted in Moldova in 2011, this paper assesses the impact both types of transfers have on household expenditure patterns. Contrary to the common assumption that money is fungible, we find that social assistance and remittances have different impacts on expenditure patterns (having controlled for potential endogeneity). In other words, where the income comes from can determine how it is spent. As such, different sources of income may have different poverty impacts. In our sample, the two types of transfers are received by different, but slightly overlapping population groups. The fact that the two transfers are spent in different ways means that, to some extent, social assistance and remittances are complements rather than substitutes.

The Affordability of Social Protection in the Light of International Spending Commitments

In recent years a number of international sector‐specific agreements have been developed by the international community and ratified by developing countries – some with specific spending targets. This article offers an empirical analysis of the individual and aggregate affordability of six sectoral targets and, based on the actual or estimated cost of each of the targets, compares target spending levels with actual government expenditure in five African countries. Most targets are not met and, while individually ‘affordable’, the estimated cost of meeting the six targets simultaneously indicates that they are not jointly affordable, with an estimated cost of more than 100% of total government expenditure in four of the five countries. Meeting any of the sectoral targets in full would require either sectoral trade‐offs, or significant increases in donor or government expenditure.

How effective are cash transfers in reducing poverty, compared to remittances?

Using a rigorous, evidence-focused review method, this literature review found elevenrelevant studies that directly compare the impacts of cash transfers and remittances on arange indicators of poverty at the household level. The evidence base is small and highly context specific. The external and internal validity of most studies are limited, so theconclusions that can be drawn from this review are tentative. However, in the majority of studies both cash transfers and remittances are shown to have positive impacts onreducing poverty. Overall, remittances seem to have stronger poverty-reducing impacts.There are a number of factors that seem to explain why remittances have a greater effect. In the studies reviewed here, remittances appear to reach both a greater share of the overall population than cash transfers and a greater share of poorer households. Furthermore,remittances were higher in value in the majority of studies reviewed. Further high-quality research is needed

Forced migration trajectories: an analysis of journey- and decision-making among Eritrean and Syrian arrivals to Europe

Abstract In 2015, Europe’s so-called ‘migration crisis’ hit the headlines. In one of the first pieces of research-based examination into the journeys of refugee arrivals around that time, this article explores the decision-making processes of (mainly) Syrians and Eritreans recently arrived in Germany, Spain and the UK. We investigate the dynamics underpinning trajectories towards Europe, placing particular emphasis on the factors that shape the ‘where’ and ‘how’ of journeys. A number of factors, already established within the broader literature, feature strongly in the decisions made by refugees: financial capital, social networks and the role of smugglers. But so too do refugees’ and other migrants’ own perceptions and feelings about where to go, when to do it, and how. Ultimately – and for our sample – we find that refugees’ journeys are on the one hand the product of a profoundly contextual and subjective decision-making process, and on the other deeply transformative phenomena, guiding as they do perceptions and choices regarding destination and trajectories.

Internal Migration in Albania and the Changes in Transfers Received from Family and Friends: A Study of Internal Migrants in Peri-Urban Tirana

Large-scale internal migration towards cities can seriously affect the networks of family and friends migrants rely on and influence both the type and frequency of transfers received by households in sending areas. Previous studies have mostly analysed transfers between the migrant and the family left behind. This study focuses instead on the case of entire households migrating to the peripheries of Albania’s capital city Tirana and considers the following questions: Does the types of transfer received by the migrant households change after migration? And do transfers from friends substitute for transfers from family members after migration?

Exploring Multi-Dimensional Wellbeing and Remittances in El Salvador

El Salvador has experienced high and increasing migration outflows during the last three decades, fuelled by the civil war in the 1980s and currently by a lack of economic opportunities. In parallel, family remittances have grown to represent 16.1 percent of GDP in 2004. In this context, it is relevant to explore the wellbeing of individuals in households receiving remittances. In this paper, we propose an alternative measure of multi-dimensional wellbeing based on the capability approach that focuses on functionings or achievements of individuals in valuable dimensions of life, such as life and physical health and social relations. From the multipurpose household survey (EHPM), we select feasible indicators for these dimensions which we aggregated using the Fuzzy Sets theory. We analyse wellbeing of different population groups in the selected dimensions of life. We find interesting differences in wellbeing between urban and rural households and male and female headed households. Finally, we analyse wellbeing for individuals in households depending on migration and remittances status. Households that receive remittances do show higher wellbeing, and those that are non-poor and receive remittances perform better than all other groups. The difference is higher in the dimensions of security, shelter and environment and in social relations. This is the first application of Fuzzy Sets theory to measure multi-dimensional wellbeing in El Salvador, based on the EHPM. We recommend the inclusion of additional indicators in the questionnaire and a further exploration of this method to assess wellbeing of different population groups in order to support a more precise definition of social protection policies.