1932

Abstract

The frictions that restrict migration are among the largest sources of inefficiency in the global economy. The first step in designing policies to address these frictions is to understand the fundamental forces that drive migration. However, the Roy model—the workhorse model of migration in economics—does a poor job of explaining many important features of this phenomenon. This limitation can be rectified by adding migrant networks to the Roy model. A rich qualitative literature in the social sciences has documented the role played by social networks in supporting migrants in their new locations. Economists have advanced this literature by identifying and quantifying the contribution of these networks to migration. Although much progress has been made over the past two decades, important gaps in the literature remain: Migrant assimilation has received little theoretical or empirical attention, and a richer characterization of the social interactions that support these networks is needed to tie research on migration to the economic literature on networks.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-economics-082019-031419
2020-08-02
2024-12-06
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/economics/12/1/annurev-economics-082019-031419.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-economics-082019-031419&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Abramitzky R. 2008. The limits of equality: insights from the Israeli kibbutz. Q. J. Econ. 123:31111–59
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Abramitzky R, Boustan L. 2017. Immigration in American economic history. J. Econ. Lit. 55:41311–45
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Allen F, Qian J, Qian M 2005. Law, finance, and economic growth in China. J. Financ. Econ. 77:157–116
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Bai C-E, Hsieh C-T, Song M 2019. Special deals with Chinese characteristics NBER Work. Pap 25839
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Banerjee A, Munshi K. 2004. How efficiently is capital allocated? Evidence from the knitted garment industry in Tirupur. Rev. Econ. Stud. 71:119–42
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Banerjee A, Newman AF. 1998. Information, the dual economy, and development. Rev. Econ. Stud. 65:4631–53
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Bazzi S, Gaduh A, Rothenberg AD, Wong M 2019. Unity in diversity? How intergroup contact can foster nation building. Am. Econ. Rev. 109:113978–4025
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Beaman LA. 2012. Social networks and the dynamics of labour market outcomes: evidence from refugees resettled in the US. Rev. Econ. Stud. 79:1128–61
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Beine M, Docquier F, Ozden C 2011. Diasporas. J. Dev. Econ. 95:30–41
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Bertoli S, Fernandez-Huertas Moraga J 2012. Visa policies, networks and the cliff at the border IZA Discuss. Pap. 7094, Inst. Labor Econ Bonn, Ger.:
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Bisin A, Verdier T. 2000. “Beyond the melting pot”: cultural transmission, marriage, and the evolution of ethnic and religious traits. Q. J. Econ. 115:955–88
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Blumenstock JE, Chi G, Tan X 2019. Migration and the value of social networks Work. Pap., Univ. Calif Berkeley:
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Borjas G. 1987. Self-selection and the earnings of immigrants. Am. Econ. Rev. 77:4531–53
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Brooks WJ, Kaboski JP, Li YA 2016. Growth policy, agglomeration, and (the lack of) competition NBER Work. Pap 22947
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Calvo-Armengol A, Jackson MO. 2004. The effects of social networks on employment and inequality. Am. Econ. Rev. 94:3426–54
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Calvo-Armengol A, Jackson MO. 2007. Networks in labor markets: wage and employment dynamics and inequality. J. Econ. Theory 132:127–46
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Carrington WJ, Detragiache E, Vishwanath T 1996. Migration with endogenous moving costs. Am. Econ. Rev. 86:4909–30
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Chandavarkar R. 1994. The Origins of Industrial Capitalism in India: Business Strategies and the Working Classes in Bombay, 1900–1940 Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Chiquiar D, Hanson GH. 2005. International migration, self-selection, and the distribution of wages: evidence from Mexico and the United States. J. Political Econ. 113:2239–81
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Ciccone A, Hall RE. 1996. Productivity and the density of economic activity. Am. Econ. Rev. 86:154–70
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Coleman JS. 1988. Social capital in the creation of human capital. Am. J. Sociol. 94:S95–120
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Cuecuecha A. 2005. The immigration of educated Mexicans: the role of informal social insurance and migration costs Work. Pap., Inst. Tecnol. Auton. Mex Mexico City:
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Currarini S, Jackson MO, Pin P 2009. An economic model of friendship: homophily, minorities, and segregation. Econometrica 77:41003–45
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Dai R, Mookherjee D, Munshi K, Zhang X 2019. The community origins of private enterprise in China Work. Pap., Peking Univ Beijing:
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Dhillon A, Iversen V, Torsvik G 2013. Employee referral, social proximity and worker discipline: theory and evidence from India CESifo Work. Pap. 4309, CESifo Munich, Ger.:
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Docquier F, Peri G, Ruyssen I 2014. The cross-country determinants of potential and actual migration. Int. Migr. Rev. 48:Suppl. 1S37–99
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Engelshoven M. 2002. Rural to urban migration and the significance of caste: the case of the Saurashtra Patels of Surat. Development and Deprivation in Gujarat G Shah, M Rutten, H Streefkerk 294–313 New Delhi: Sage
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Esteban J-M, Ray D. 1994. On the measurement of polarization. Econometrica 62:4819–51
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Fernandez-Huertas Moraga J. 2011. New evidence on emigrant selection. Rev. Econ. Stat. 93:172–96
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Fernandez-Huertas Moraga J. 2013. Understanding different migrant selection patterns in rural and urban Mexico. J. Dev. Econ. 103:182–201
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Fleisher B, Hu D, McGuire W, Zhang X 2010. The evolution of an industrial cluster in China. China Econ. Rev. 21:3456–69
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Genicot G, Ray D. 2003. Group formation in risk-sharing arrangements. Rev. Econ. Stud. 70:187–113
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Goodman B. 1995. Native Place, City, and Nation: Regional Networks and Identities in Shanghai, 1853–1937 Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Greif A. 1993. Contract enforceability and economic institutions in early trade: the Maghribi traders' coalition. Am. Econ. Rev. 83:3525–48
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Greif A. 1994. Cultural beliefs and the organization of society: a historical and theoretical reflection on collectivist and individualist societies. J. Political Econ. 102:5912–50
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Greif A, Tabellini G. 2017. The clan and the corporation: sustaining cooperation in China and Europe. J. Comp. Econ. 45:11–35
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Honig E. 1996. Regional identity, labor, and ethnicity in contemporary China. Putting Class in Its Place: Worker Identities in East Asia EJ Perry 225–43 Berkeley, CA: Inst. East Asian Stud.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Ibarran P, Lubotsky D. 2007. Mexican immigration and self-selection: new evidence from the 2000 Mexican census. Mexican Immigration in the United States G Borjas 159–92 Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Jackson MO, Rodriguez-Barraquer T, Tan X 2012. Social capital and social quilts: network patterns of favor exchange. Am. Econ. Rev. 102:51857–97
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Kandori M. 1992. Social norms and community enforcement. Rev. Econ. Stud. 59:163–80
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Ligon E, Thomas JP, Worrall T 2002. Informal insurance arrangements with limited commitment: theory and evidence from village economies. Rev. Econ. Stud. 69:209–44
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Lucas REB, Stark O. 1985. Motivations to remit: evidence from Botswana. J. Political Econ. 93:5901–18
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Mazzocco M, Saini S. 2012. Testing efficient risk-sharing with heterogeneous risk preferences. Am. Econ. Rev. 102:1428–68
    [Google Scholar]
  44. McKenzie D, Rapoport H. 2007. Network effects and the dynamics of migration and inequality: theory and evidence from Mexico. J. Dev. Econ. 84:1–24
    [Google Scholar]
  45. McKenzie D, Rapoport H. 2012. Self-selection patterns in Mexico-U.S. migration: the role of migration networks. Rev. Econ. Stat. 92:4811–21
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Mishra P. 2007. Emigration and wages in source countries: evidence from Mexico. J. Dev. Econ. 82:1180–99
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Morris MD. 1965. The Emergence of an Industrial Labor Force in India: A Study of the Bombay Cotton Mills, 1854–1947 Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Morten M. 2019. Temporary migration and endogenous risk sharing in village India. J. Political Econ. 127:11–46
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Munshi K. 2003. Networks in the modern economy: Mexican migrants in the U.S. labor market. Q. J. Econ. 118:2549–97
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Munshi K. 2011. Strength in numbers: networks as a solution to occupational traps. Rev. Econ. Stud. 78:1069–101
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Munshi K. 2014. Community networks and the process of development. J. Econ. Perspect. 28:449–76
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Munshi K, Rosenzweig M. 2006. Traditional institutions meet the modern world: caste, gender and schooling choice in a globalizing economy. Am. Econ. Rev. 96:41225–52
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Munshi K, Rosenzweig M. 2016. Networks and misallocation: insurance, migration, and the rural-urban wage gap. Am. Econ. Rev. 106:146–98
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Nee V, Opper S. 2012. Capitalism from Below: Markets and Institutional Change in China Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Orrenius PM, Zavodny M. 2005. Self-selection among undocumented immigrants from Mexico. J. Dev. Econ. 78:1215–40
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Peng Y. 2004. Kinship networks and entrepreneurs in China's transitional economy. Am. J. Sociol. 109:51045–74
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Rosenzweig M. 2010. Global wage inequality and the international flow of migrants Work. Pap., Yale Univ New Haven, CT:
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Roy AD. 1951. Some thoughts on the distribution of earnings. Oxford Econ. Pap. 3:2135–46
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Song Z, Storesletten K, Zilibotti F 2011. Growing like China. Am. Econ. Rev. 101:1196–233
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Tabellini G. 2008. The scope of cooperation: values and incentives. Q. J. Econ. 123:3905–50
    [Google Scholar]
  61. Woodruff C, Zenteno R. 2007. Migration networks and microenterprises in Mexico. J. Dev. Econ. 82:2509–28
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-economics-082019-031419
Loading
  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error