John Francis Bannon

Book Review: Foreign Immigrants in Early Bourbon Mexico, 1700–1760Foreign Immigrants in Early Bourbon Mexico, 1700–1760. By NunnCharles F.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1979. Pp. xi-243.

less to the policy maker than it is to the migration researcher. It contains a number of specific recommendations for measurement and theory construction which can be readily adopted. Here the author makes a noble attempt to rechannel the direction of migration research. Thus, the book ends on an ambitious note. However, it does not live up to its titles promise. In spite of its title, the book narrowly focuses on migration as an economic decision. As a result, the model only applies to interregion mobility decisions. Additionally, it assumes consumers have perfect information about regions, as well as motives which are more economic and less social. The empirical analyses scattered throughout the text also fall short of the authors ambition. One problem is that the research does not consistently focus on one type of analytical unit. In some cases the data is for states while in others it is for SMSAs. State units are inappropriate. People do not migrate to states, but rather to economic regions. This curious admixture of areal units makes it difficult to interpret results. Another difficulty, somewhat typical of this type of research, is that while the rationale for the models is based on assumptions about individual decision making, the unit of anal ysis is the aggregate rather than the individual. In short, this book promises more than it can possibly produce. Despite this fact, its ambitious tone and wide ranging review of the data generate a collection of ideas and proposals which will be useful to future research on the question of why people move.