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International Relations Voluntary International Migration
by
Jeannette Money, Sara S. Kazemian, Timothy W. Taylor
  • LAST REVIEWED: 04 November 2019
  • LAST MODIFIED: 26 November 2019
  • DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199743292-0167

Introduction

Although migration has been a human phenomenon from time immemorial, international migration in the contemporary sense is usually dated from the Treaty of Westphalia (1648), which created a state system and the concept of state sovereignty with the associated power to control borders. Migration is usually divided into two categories, “forced” and “voluntary.” This is a useful dividing line, even though it is widely acknowledged that migrants have multiple reasons for moving and that there is often no clear dividing line to distinguish “forced” versus “voluntary” migrants. This article covers only voluntary international migration, both short term and long term. It does not cover the research on forced migration flows (refugees and asylum seekers) as defined in the United Nations Convention and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 and 1967). International migration—defined as individuals living outside their country of origin for more than one year—remains the exception rather than the rule. The decline of transportation and communication costs has increased human mobility, with international travel expanding exponentially since the Second World War. Although the absolute number of migrants continues to increase, as a proportion of the population, international migration has remained relatively stable, running around 3 percent of the global population. International migrants travel in all directions, with at least half moving within the Global South. However, the distribution of international migrants is not uniform; typically migrants move from poorer, more unstable states to wealthier, more stable states. And international migration has become a salient political issue virtually everywhere: in receiving societies, in sending societies, and even in transit societies. So a bibliographical article on the various dimensions of international migration is timely. In this second edition, updated through June 2019, the citations in each section have expanded and sections have been added to reflect the breadth and depth of contemporary research. Subsequent to the overview of international migration and migration processes, the literature is organized around six themes: the economic consequences of immigration; immigration control and enforcement; specific migration flows; immigrant incorporation; migration governance, including migrant rights; and linkages between international migration and other international issues, such as security, trade, aid, and development. This article reflects scholarship on international migration produced in the Global North and/or published in globally prominent scholarly journals. Additional resources, in regional or national journals and books, are often referenced in the articles and books cited in this bibliography.

General Overviews

The research on international migration is so broad and interdisciplinary that few books provide a general overview of the field. In the Textbooks section, six suggested readings are given. As research on international migration has exploded, various presses are publishing handbooks that present scholarly research on specific issues. The Resources section lists a recent spate of edited volumes that bring together scholars from the various disciplines who focus on specific dimensions of migration as a central research issue. We also include a compendium of international legal instruments dealing with migration.

Textbooks

Because migration is an interdisciplinary topic, few textbooks cover issues of international migration from various perspectives and include a global overview of migration systems: that is, a description of the patterns of migration around the globe. Douglas Massey is one of the seminal scholars on migration; Massey, et al. 1998 gathers prominent scholars from around the globe to discuss regional migration systems at the beginning of the 21st century. Castles, et al. 2014 also provides a broad overview of regional migration systems as well as synthesizes research on a wide array of migration-related topics. It is updated regularly so it has become a standard text in the field. Messina and Lahav 2005 presents seminal research in various disciplines but it has not been updated to reflect new research since 2005. Brettell and Hollifield 2015 allows scholars from each discipline to address migration research from their disciplinary perspective. Martin 2014 focuses on contemporary issues associated with migration management. Koser 2016 provides an overview of migration issues for a non-expert audience, introducing both forced and voluntary migration, irregular migration, immigrant integration, and the connection between migration and development.

  • Brettell, Caroline B., and James F. Hollifield, eds. Migration Theory: Talking across Disciplines. 3d ed. New York: Routledge, 2015.

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    This edited volume argues that “social scientists do not approach the study of immigration from a shared paradigm, but from a variety of competing theoretical viewpoints” (p. 2). The volume attempts to rectify these shortcomings by juxtaposing the research of the various social science disciplines.

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  • Castles, Stephen Mark, J. Miller, and Hein de Haas. The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World. 5th ed. New York: Guilford, 2014.

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    This book has now become a standard text on international migration, providing an empirical overview of various regions of the world. It also addresses the determinants of migration and the issues migration raises in both sending and receiving states. It is updated regularly to take into account new research.

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  • Koser, Khalid. International Migration: A Very Short Introduction. 2d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.

    DOI: 10.1093/actrade/9780198753773.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This short introduction provides an overview of international migration, including topics such as migration and development, irregular migration, and migrants in society. It also has a chapter on forced migration, refugees, and asylum seekers.

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  • Martin, Susan F. International Migration: Evolving Trends from the Early 20th Century to the Present. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

    DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139170079Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This book focuses on contemporary migration flows, including refugee flows. The author addresses a number of dimensions associated with migration, including migration management, trafficking, migration and development, and migration and environmental issues.

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  • Massey, Douglas S., Joaquin Arango, Graeme Hugo, Ali Kouaouci, Adela Pellegrino, and J. Edward Taylor. World in Motion: Understanding International Migration at the End of the Millennium. Oxford: Clarendon, 1998.

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    This volume provides an overview of migration systems geographically by region: North America, South America, Europe, the Gulf, Asia, and the Pacific. It incorporates an overview of issues of national development and community development.

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  • Messina, Anthony M., and Gallya Lahav. The Migration Reader: Exploring Politics and Policies. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2005.

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    This edited volume collects seminal research in the migration literature on various dimensions of migration, including immigration control and immigrant integration, as well as historical and normative dimensions of immigration research.

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Resources

Handbooks on migration topics are recent but widespread; Oxford, Routledge, and Edward Elgar are the three most prominent presses that are issuing handbooks that summarize state of the art research. Listed here are reference books on international migration research and international law on migration. They represent a valuable resource to consult when first becoming familiar with the literature. Chiswick and Miller 2015 and Constant and Zimmermann 2015 present the contributions of economists, with a particular focus on the migration decision and the labor market implications of migration. Chetail and Bauloz 2015 represents the contributions of legal scholars regarding multilateral and national institutions governing the international movement of individuals. This is complemented by Perruchoud and Tömölová 2007, which gathers a compendium of international legal instruments dealing with migration. Triandafyllidou 2016, Gold and Nawyn 2014, and Rosenblum and Tichenor 2018 all provide broad overviews of the multidisciplinary research on migration. Freeman and Mirilovic 2016, an edited volume, is distinctive for its focus on migration policy as it affects the immigrant and the countries of origin and destination. Vargas-Silva 2012 gathers both theoretical and empirical contributions to research methodologies, an especially important dimension that immigration researchers must navigate. Weinar and Bonjour 2018 focuses on Europe as a specific region and argues that a regional focus is appropriate to better understand the migration issues that states and populations confront as well as the underlying politics that affect outcomes.

  • Chetail, Vincent, and Céline Bauloz, eds. Research Handbook on International Law and Migration. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2015.

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    This volume takes a legal perspective and outlines customary and contemporary international law, including the impact of human rights conventions on migrants. Two additional sections deal with economic migrants and labor markets and internal as well as international displacement.

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  • Chiswick, Barry, and Paul W. Miller, eds. Handbook of the Economics of International Migration. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2015.

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    See Vol. 1A, The Immigrants; and Vol. 1B, The Impact. These volumes are in the economics series rather than the migration series. They nonetheless provide reference to economists’ contributions to migration research both theoretically and empirically.

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  • Constant, Amelie F., and Klaus F. Zimmermann, eds. International Handbook on the Economics of Migration. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2015.

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    The editors have gathered research in areas of migration research dominated by economists, specifically on migration decision making and migrants in the labor market. The volume also covers policy dimensions of migration.

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  • Freeman, Gary P., and Nikola Mirilovic, eds. Handbook on Migration and Social Policy. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2016.

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    This volume is distinctive because of the emphasis on policy choice, the determinants of policy choice, and the implications of policy choice on migrants and their home and host societies.

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  • Gold, Steven J., and Stephanie J. Nawyn, eds. Routledge International Handbook of Migration Studies. London: Routledge, 2014.

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    This edited volume has one of the broadest scopes of the handbooks with a strong methodological section.

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  • Perruchoud, Richard, and Katarina Tömölová, eds. Compendium of International Migration Law Instruments. The Hague: T. M. C. Asser, 2007.

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    This compendium brings together a wide assortment of international law affecting migration and migrants, starting with human rights conventions. The breadth of the compendium is substantial, covering international labor protections, refugee protections, minorities, detainees, statelessness, smuggling and trafficking, and so forth.

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  • Rosenblum, Marc R., and Daniel J. Tichenor, eds. Oxford Handbook of the Politics of International Migration. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.

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    This is a well-balanced volume incorporating the various issues raised by international migration: determinants of migration, impact of migration on host and home countries, the politics of migration policy, issues of immigrant incorporation and contemporary issues such as immigration and terrorism.

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  • Triandafyllidou, Anna, ed. Routledge Handbook of Immigration and Refugee Studies. New York: Routledge, 2016.

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    This edited volume covers the gamut of migration issues, with a particularly well-developed section on migration and development that presents both theoretical perspectives and empirical regional perspectives.

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  • Vargas-Silva, Carlos, ed. Handbook of Research Methods in Migration. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2012.

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    Given the real methodological challenges of studying international migration, this edited volume offers both theoretical discussions and empirical approaches.

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  • Weinar, Agnieszka, and Saskia Bonjour, eds. The Routledge Handbook of the Politics of Migration in Europe. London: Routledge, 2018.

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    This book represents the most recent turn toward a regional disaggregation of migration issues. This disaggregation allows scholars to focus on issues specific to particular regions of the world and to incorporate regionally specific institutions and political actors.

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Data for Migration Research

If one seeks to answer migration-related questions, different methodological choices are available to scholars to evaluate their arguments empirically. Until fairly recently, scholars have employed predominantly case studies to generate and evaluate hypotheses. But it is difficult to understand the scope conditions of the hypotheses when relying on case studies: how generalizable are the hypotheses? Scholars are now trying to grasp how to measure concepts we are interested in. Indexes are being created to measure different components of migration, migration policy, and migration outcomes. Some of these databases are generated in the interest of providing scholars with empirical evidence to test hypotheses across the broad area of migration. Other databases are created to test specific hypotheses of concern to the authors of the data. Despite the growing trend in the use of quantitative data, there remains a paucity of databases in the area of migration, and the few that exist tend to deal disproportionately with more industrialized states.

Global Databases on Migration

The following data sets provide examples of current data sources and indexes available for the migration-related scholarship. This section includes databases that purport to be global in scope; the following section includes data sets that cover primarily wealthy Western democracies. The United Nations Population Division: International Migration Statistics provides statistics on international migration stocks by country at the aggregate level and disaggregated by migrant characteristics (age and gender). Beine, et al. 2007 provides data on the demographic characteristics of immigrants. Parsons, et al. 2007 presents data for 226 countries and territories on bilateral immigration stocks. Docquier and Marfouk 2004 measures the mobility of skilled workers for 170 countries in 1990 and 190 countries in 2000. Connor and Tucker 2011 provides data for international migration stock and religious affiliation. The World Bank provides data on bilateral migrant stocks from 1960 to 2000 (World Bank: Global Matrices of Bilateral Migrant Stocks, 1960–2000) as well as inward and outward remittance flows from 1970 to 2014 (World Bank: Migration and Remittances Factbook). In 2017, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) launched a Migration Data Portal. It contains panel data for various indicators, including migrant flow, vulnerability, forced migration, development, migration policy, public opinion, etc. Additional databases from international organizations include the Database on Immigrants in OECD and non-OECD countries: DIOC.

Databases on Wealthy Western Democracies

Wealthy countries tend to collect and disseminate more data than countries from the Global South. Moreover, access to legislation permits scholars to code government policies. Therefore the data available for wealthy Western democracies, including OECD countries, tends to be greater than for other countries around the globe. Huddleston, et al. 2011 provides useful tools to analyze eight dimensions of integration policy in thirty-one countries (wealthy Western democracies). The database, the Migration Policy Index (MIPEX), is regularly updated and now includes thirty-eight countries. Goodman 2012 measures policies of European states that require cultural education programs for incoming migrants. Helbling, et al. 2017 measures immigration policies for thirty-three OECD countries using a new database, the Immigration Policies in Comparison (IMPIC). The Global Citizenship Observatory (GLOBALCIT) contains four separate data banks with information on legal and administrative procedures for citizenship acquisition. To evaluate hypotheses related to immigration integration, the Multiculturalism Policy Index provides data on the cultural characteristics of migrant groups. Koopmans, et al. 2012 developed the Indicators of Citizenship Rights for Immigrants that ranks countries on the degree to which fundamental human rights are granted to immigrant groups. The DEMIG POLICY Database codes legislation from forty-five countries between 1945 and 2013. It also provides flow data for thirty-four destination countries. Additional databases from international organizations include Eurostat (European Union) Migration and Migrant Population Statistics and the OECD International Migration Database.

Databases Generated for Individual Projects

Although the databases created to test hypotheses relevant to the author(s) are oftentimes specific in the coverage of cases and variables, these help to provide data for the testing of other arguments and generating hypotheses. Cited here are articles employing original databases created for individual projects. Singer 2010 provides cross-national data on remittances to developing countries from 1982 to 2006. Hopkins 2010 collects data on the location of immigrants along with survey data on natives’ responses to migrant populations. The articles are linked to the original databases.

Methodological Issues in Migration Research

A number of literature reviews on the state of migration scholarship are available in terms of empirical evidence and its availability. Cited here are some of the more recent methodological reviews. First, Black and Skeldon 2009 reviews the availability of data on studies concerned with the link between migration and development. Focusing on the United States, Massey 2010 reviews the state of current data related to immigration. Dancygier and Laitin 2014 reviews the methodological state of the literature and proposes new directions for future research. Bjerre, et al. 2015 reviews and critiques existing indexes relating to international migration before discussing how these data may affect the research questions being addressed. Goodman 2015 reviews issues regarding policy indexes and provides recommendations for scholars interested in immigration policy.

Classification of International Mobility

Individuals, families, and groups move across international borders for various reasons; however, until recently, these flows were treated as more or less homogeneous. Some individuals move to improve their economic prospects, education, or personal freedom. Others flee persecution, natural disaster, and/or violence. In the 20th century, international law was developed to account for some of the different reasons for international migration. The concept of “refugee” was noted in international law as early as the 1920s and 1930s when the League of Nations facilitated the movement of some refugee groups. However, the Nazi atrocities during the Second World War, following the refusal of most nations to accept Jewish immigrants during the interwar period, led the international community to adopt a formal definition of “refugee,” to create the obligation of non-refoulement, and to define refugee rights in the host state. This was accomplished by the adoption of the United Nations Convention relating to the status of refugees in 1951 (supplemented by the 1967 Protocol). This international document, which has been widely ratified by states in the international system, clearly divides international migration flows into two types: “forced” and “voluntary.” The UN Convention definition of “refugee” is narrow in scope, referring to an individual with a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, [who] is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.” Karatani 2005 traces the evolution of the refugee system and how it became distinguished from the broader flow of migrants by dividing a previously homogeneous group of international migrants into distinct categories. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 2012 provides annual reports on peoples qualifying under the refugee status. However, this international legal definition is hotly contested. Betts 2013 argues for a broader understanding of “refugee” that considers those whose survival is threatened. More recently, a third type of individual who crosses international borders has been recognized: short-term travelers, such as students, businesspersons, and family members who come to certain countries for short visits. This recognition has divided international migratory flows into three types: refugee, international travel, and economic migration (see Koslowski 2011). The boundaries between these groups are often blurred but, nevertheless, they help researchers distinguish among types of migrants. The research referenced below traces these distinctions and the contestation of these boundaries. However, this bibliography, as noted above, focuses on “voluntary” international migrants, both short term and long term.

  • Betts, Alexander. Survival Migration: Failed Governance and the Crisis of Displacement. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2013.

    DOI: 10.7591/cornell/9780801451065.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Disputes the narrow definition of “refugee” based on persecution linked to a specific status. Individuals flee in many circumstances, both natural and human disasters, in order to save their lives. The author argues that the refugee system needs to be revised to incorporate a broader understanding of migration for survival.

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  • Karatani, Rieko. “How History Separated Refugee and Migrant Regimes: In Search of Their Institutional Origins.” International Journal of Refugee Law 17.3 (2005): 517–541.

    DOI: 10.1093/ijrl/eei019Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Provides a detailed history of the division of international migrants into two types, “forced” and “voluntary,” and describes the institutionalization of both regimes in the international system.

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  • Koslowski, Rey, ed. Global Mobility Regimes. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

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    Koslowski separates the movement of individuals across international borders into three types: refugee, international travel, and labor migration. This has been an important innovation in recognizing the different dimensions of international mobility.

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  • United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The State of the World’s Refugees: In Search of Solidarity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

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    An annual report and periodic overviews of the categories of individuals falling under the commissioner’s purview. The organization has expanded its operational capacities to include internally displaced persons: that is, individuals who would qualify for refugee status if they crossed an international border but are unable to do so.

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Migration Processes

Regardless of the specific area of inquiry on international migration, it is useful to have a background that explains why international migration arises in the first place. This work builds upon the innovative research of Ravenstein 1885, whose author exploited the 1871 and 1881 censuses in the United Kingdom to trace internal and international migration and to develop “laws” of migration. Passaris 1989 represents one contemporary strand of economic models that explore the “push factors” that cause individuals to leave their country of origin and “pull factors” that attract migrants to a particular destination. A more specific neoclassical economic model, elaborated in Borjas 1989, points to labor markets as the central component of international migration: individuals respond to the demand for labor across international boundaries, moving to the location with the highest return. Stark 1978 challenges this description of a migrant making individually rational decisions and presents a model of the family as the primary unit of analysis. Families seek to reduce the risk of income variation through multilocational households: rural, urban, and international. Piore 1979 sees migrants as target earners, filling dirty, dangerous, and difficult jobs in the segmented labor markets in industrial societies, planning on returning home once income goals are met. On the other hand, Castles and Kosack 1973 points to the international capitalist system and capital penetration of poor countries in search of cheap and disposable labor to explain the phenomenon of international migration. Kritz, et al. 1992 describes how patterns of migratory flows are conditioned by the presence of other international economic flows: international trade, information flows, foreign direct investment, etc. can stimulate migration across international boundaries. Massey, et al. 1987 develops the concept of migrant networks as a mechanism for explaining the continuation of migration when initial conditions that induced the migration may have evaporated. Massey 1990 also proposes the notion of cumulative causation, which suggests that migration itself induces social and economic changes that make migration more likely in the future. De Haas 2010 explores the endogenous feedback loops of migration processes and points out weaknesses in the research agenda.

  • Borjas, George J. “Economic Theory and International Migration.” International Migration Review 23.3 (1989): 457–485.

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    Neoclassical migration theory posits that individuals move across international boundaries in response to the supply and demand for labor, in order to obtain the highest return; this theory was developed to explain rural to urban migration. Borjas applies these concepts to international migration.

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  • Castles, Stephen, and Godula Kosack. Immigrant Workers and Class Structure in Western Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973.

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    These authors take a historical-structuralist approach and explain migration as a function of the capitalist system and the inequality in power that results. International migration serves to provide capitalists with cheap and disposable labor.

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  • De Haas, Hein. “The Internal Dynamics of Migration Processes: A Theoretical Inquiry.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 36.10 (2010): 1587–1617.

    DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2010.489361Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    De Haas suggests that current migration theories cannot explain why networks emerge. Second, he differentiates between endogenous and the contextual feedback mechanism, suggesting that the contextual feedback mechanism is a second-order effect that affects wider societal issues (e.g. inequality, cultural changes) in host and destination countries

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  • Kritz, Mary M., Lin Lean Lim, and Hania Zlotnik, eds. International Migration Systems: A Global Approach. Oxford: Clarendon, 1992.

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    These scholars adapt the framework of the geographer, Mabogunje, to international migration. The idea is that one form of exchange, such as trade, can engender other forms of exchange, such as international migration.

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  • Massey, Douglas S. “Social Structure, Household Strategies and the Cumulative Causation of Migration.” Population Index 56.1 (1990): 3–26.

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    Massey presents the case for the cumulative causation of migration: that is, that migration induces changes in social and economic structures that increase the probability of future migration.

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  • Massey, Douglas S., Rafael Alarcón, Jorge Durand, and Humberto González. Return to Aztlan: The Social Process of International Migration from Western Mexico. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.

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    Massey and his colleagues observe the impact of social networks on reinforcing migration patterns, describing a process of “chain migration” or migration networks.

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  • Passaris, Constantine E. “Immigration and the Evolution of Economic Theory.” International Migration 27.4 (1989): 525–542.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2435.1989.tb00469.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Economic models of migration processes focus on the factors that “push” migrants to leave their country of origin (e.g., population density, lack of economic opportunity, political repression) and the factors that “pull” migrants to a particular destination (e.g., demand for labor, access to resources, political freedom).

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  • Piore, Michael J. Birds of Passage: Migrant Labor in Industrial Societies. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1979.

    DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511572210Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Building on the New Economics of Labor Migration, Piore posits segmented labor markets as a cause of international migration. Migrant workers have target income goals to help meet needs in their home society and intend temporary stays. They fill dirty, difficult, and dangerous jobs in the host society because their status depends on their status at home rather than in the host country.

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  • Ravenstein, Ernest George. “The Laws of Migration.” Journal of the Statistical Society of London 48.2 (1885): 167–235.

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    Based on a comparison of UK censuses in the late 19th century, Ravenstein developed seven “laws” of migration, some of which are still widely accepted today, such as “most migrants only proceed a short distance.”

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  • Stark, Oded. Economic-Demographic Interaction in Agricultural Development: The Case of Rural-to-Urban Migration. Rome: Food and Agricultural Organization, 1978.

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    Stark initiated the field of “New Economics of Labor Migration.” He turns the unit of analysis away from the individual to the family and argues that families employ migration as a strategy to handle risk associated with variability in income. Migrants may move even without wage differentials in order to provide an alternative source of income.

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Economic Consequences of Immigration

The research on the economic consequences of immigration is dominated, not surprisingly, by economists. There are two major strands of research. The first examines the distributional elements of immigration and the impact on worker wages; the second is the fiscal impact of immigration. A third strand examines the global welfare benefits of immigration; this is included in the section the Fiscal Impact of Immigration.

Labor Market Consequences of Immigration

Much of the initial research on the labor market consequences of immigration relies on economic theory but is evaluated empirically with data from the United States. Reder 1963 provides an early analysis of the various economic dimensions that should be considered. Several review articles update the debate on the labor market consequences of immigration. Borjas 1994 is the classical reference; this is followed by Longhi, et al. 2005 and Hanson 2009. Edo 2019 provides the most recent overview. Much of this research focuses on whether immigrant labor is complementary to the native workforce, in which case immigrants increase the returns to the native workforce, or whether immigrants compete with the native workforce, thereby decreasing the returns. Light, et al. 1999 presents evidence that, in some instances, immigrants create enclave economies and therefore do not affect the wages of the native workforce. The authors of Freeman and Kessler 2008 are political scientists who argue that economists have omitted the role of the state in immigration policy and that research on the economic consequences of immigration would benefit by including the role of the state in economic models. Coleman and Rowthorn 2004 examines the impact of the 1997 change in UK immigration policy that opened the UK to much larger levels of immigration. The authors are concerned with the impact of immigration on the most vulnerable populations in the United Kingdom. Hatton 2010 provides a historical perspective on the economic consequences of immigration. Card and Peri 2016 offers a critique of Borjas’s body of research; this is important given the stature of this scholar in the field of immigration economics.

  • Borjas, George J. “The Economics of Immigration.” Journal of Economic Literature 32.4 (1994): 1667–1717.

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    This review article summarizes the literature on the economic impact of immigration. Some researchers argue that immigrants complement the native labor force and thereby increase the wages of the native workforce; other scholars argue that immigrants substitute for the native workforce and thereby decrease native wages. However, empirically, the impact on wages appears to be small.

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  • Card, David, and Giovanni Peri. “Immigration Economics by George J. Borjas: A Review Essay.” Journal of Economic Literature 54.4 (2016): 1333–1349.

    DOI: 10.1257/jel.20151248Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This is an important critique of the research of Goerge Borjas on immigration. Borjas has provided evidence of the negative impact of immigration on the host country labor market. These scholars argue that the perspective is one-sided and point to research that provides a more nuanced analysis of the economic impact of migration.

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  • Coleman, David, and Robert Rowthorn. “The Economic Effects of Immigration into the United Kingdom.” Population and Development Review 30.4 (2004): 579–624.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2004.00034.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article traces the economic impact of the 1997 immigration policy change in the United Kingdom, which opened the door much more widely to immigration. The authors find that the interests of the most vulnerable segments of the population are not well served by higher levels of immigration.

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  • Edo, Anthony. “The Impact of Immigration on the Labor Market.” Journal of Economic Surveys 33.3 (2019): 922–948.

    DOI: 10.1111/joes.12300Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article surveys the research in this area and confirms that the skill composition of the immigrant population may have distributional consequences by decreasing the wages of similarly skilled native workers with whom the migrants compete and increasing the wages workers who are complementary.

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  • Freeman, Gary R., and Alan E. Kessler. “Political Economy and Migration Policy.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 34.4 (2008): 655–678.

    DOI: 10.1080/13691830801961670Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors suggest that, because states intervene in the migration process, economic studies of migration could fruitfully incorporate the role of states, institutions, and interest groups in their analyses.

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  • Hanson, Gordon H. “The Economic Consequences of the International Migration of Labor.” Annual Review of Economics 1 (2009): 179–207.

    DOI: 10.1146/annurev.economics.050708.143247Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author suggests that the economic consequences of global labor mobility on the sending and receiving countries and on the migrants themselves are conditional. He explores the research on these variables: wages, prices, taxes, and government transfers.

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  • Hatton, Timothy J. “The Cliometrics of International Migration: A Survey.” Journal of Economic Surveys 24.5 (2010): 941–969.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6419.2010.00633.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Cliometrics is the application of econometric methodologies to history. The author employs cliometrics to analyze international migration from 1850 through 1940. The findings provide perspective on immigration issues in the contemporary era.

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  • Light, Ivan, Richard B. Bernard, and Rebecca Kim. “Immigrant Incorporation in the Garment Industry of Los Angeles.” International Migration Review 33.1 (1999): 5–25.

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    The authors study the garment industry in Los Angeles and find that immigrants create their own enclave economies and therefore do not impact wages of the native workforce at all.

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  • Longhi, Simonetta, Peter Nijkamp, and Jacques Poot. “A Meta-analytic Assessment of the Effect of Immigration on Wages.” Journal of Economic Surveys 19.3 (2005): 451–477.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.0950-0804.2005.00255.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article provides a meta-analysis of eighteen papers that address the impact of immigration on native wages, in an attempt to understand the wide range of conclusions. Papers employ data from the United States, Germany, and other countries. The authors find that the results vary based on the modeling approach.

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  • Reder, Melvin W. “The Economic Consequences of Increased Immigration.” The Review of Economics and Statistics 45.3 (1963): 221–230.

    DOI: 10.2307/1923891Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    An early article attempting to sort out the dimensions of the consequences of immigration in the United States.

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The Fiscal Impact of Immigration

The other major issue that economists have weighed in on is the fiscal impact of immigration or the impact on government revenues and expenditures. How much do immigrants contribute to the state in terms of taxes and what is the cost of benefits that they are eligible for? In general, the impact is conditional; it depends on immigrant characteristics, the demographics of the immigrant population, and the types of benefits the government makes available to immigrants. Again, although the economic theory is generic, much of the evidence to support the theory is drawn from the United States. Simon 1989 provides an early overview of the economic impact of immigration on the host country. Borjas 1999 and Borjas and Hilton 1996 provide a negative perspective—arguing that immigrants search out the highest benefits and apply for those benefits. Other analyses suggest that if migrants have higher uptake rates than natives it is because a larger proportion of immigrants are eligible. Castronova, et al. 2001 provides evidence from Germany that substantiates this contention. Demographics is also a critical issue. Populations in wealthy western democracies are aging; with retirement, these previous contributors to the state become net recipients through pension payments and health care. Immigration represents one way of boosting government revenues through increasing the labor force. Collado, et al. 2004 provides evidence from Spain that immigration may help fill the anticipated gap between revenues and outlays. Rothman and Espenshade 1992 and Smith and Edmonston 1997 refine the debate on the fiscal impacts of immigration, noting that even if there is a net positive impact from immigration, in federal systems, the balance may be negative depending on the level of government, local, state, and national. In general, economics explores the efficient distribution of factors of production—land, labor, and capital. States represent barriers to the movement of factors of production and may distort the most efficient distribution of resources. Much ink has been spilt over barriers to trade; barriers to immigration are viewed in the same vein. Hamilton and Whalley 1984 is a highly cited article that points out the welfare gains that would accrue if states lowered their barriers to immigration. Clemens 2011 is the most recent article to note the improvement to global welfare, in terms of wealth, associated with lowering barriers to migration. Roemer 2006 provides a formal model that builds in social transfers and finds that a “cosmopolitan egalitarian perspective” suggests lower admissions than would occur with open borders.

  • Borjas, George J. “Immigration and Welfare Magnets.” Journal of Labor Economics 17.4 (1999): 607–637.

    DOI: 10.1086/209933Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author evaluates whether immigrants who are welfare recipients cluster in states with the highest benefits. He finds that they do, in comparison to immigrants who are not welfare recipients and to natives.

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  • Borjas, George J., and L. Hilton. “Immigration and the Welfare State: Immigrant Participation in Means-Tested Entitlement Programs.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 111.2 (1996): 575–604.

    DOI: 10.2307/2946688Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors document higher usage of welfare benefits by migrants: 21 percent of immigrant households receive benefits versus 14 percent for native households. This may be due to information flows from migrant networks.

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  • Castronova, Edward J., Hike Kayser, Joachim R. Frick, and Gert G. Wagner. “Immigrants, Natives and Social Assistance: Comparable Take-Up under Comparable Circumstances.” International Migration Review 35.3 (2001): 726–748.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-7379.2001.tb00038.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Using data from Germany, the authors find that immigrants are more likely than native Germans to receive welfare benefits because they are more likely to be eligible. However, when controlling for other socio-demographic factors, immigrant households are no more likely to take up benefits than native households.

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  • Clemens, Michael A. “Economics and Emigration: Trillion-Dollar Bills on the Sidewalk?” Journal of Economic Perspectives 25.3 (2011): 83–106.

    DOI: 10.1257/jep.25.3.83Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author asks: how large are the economic losses caused by controls over immigration? He finds that the economic benefits would be large, one or two orders of magnitude larger than those of relaxing all restrictions on trade.

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  • Collado, M. Dolores, Iñigo Iturbe-Ormaetxe, and Guadalupe Valera. “Quantifying the Impact of Immigration on the Spanish Welfare State.” International Tax and Public Finance 11.3 (2004): 335–353.

    DOI: 10.1023/B:ITAX.0000021975.20256.ffSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    In response to the aging Spanish population, the authors evaluate whether immigration will help fill the government coffers to provide for pensions and health benefits. They find that the impact of immigration will be positive and significant.

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  • Hamilton, Bob, and John Whalley. “Efficiency and Distributional Implications of Global Restrictions on Labour Mobility.” Journal of Development Economics 14.1 (1984): 61–75.

    DOI: 10.1016/0304-3878(84)90043-9Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors provide estimates of the impact of immigration restrictions on global welfare. They argue that relaxing immigration restrictions would improve global welfare, as measured by global wealth, by large amounts.

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  • Roemer, John E. “The Global Welfare Economics of Immigration.” Social Choice and Welfare 27.2 (2006): 311–325.

    DOI: 10.1007/s00355-006-0127-xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Roemer models the global welfare impact of migration; assumptions include two regions, North and South, with low skilled workers in the South and a mix of low and high skilled workers in the North and a trade union for worker representation. He finds that the optimal level of immigration from a cosmopolitan egalitarian perspective is lower than an open borders policy.

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  • Rothman, Eric S., and Thomas J. Espenshade. “Fiscal Impacts of Immigration to the United States.” Population Index 58.3 (1992): 381–415.

    DOI: 10.2307/3644418Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article provides a meta-analysis of seventeen studies on the fiscal impacts of immigration on national, state, and local governments.

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  • Simon, Julian L. The Economic Consequences of Immigration. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989.

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    This book summarizes many of the debates about the costs and benefits of immigration. In particular, the impact of immigration on the welfare state is conditional on the skill level of the immigrant workers, the tax rates, the access to benefits, and the dependency ratio of the immigrant worker families—whether or not workers bring in family members who do not participate in labor markets.

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  • Smith, James P., and Barry Edmonston, eds. The New Americans: Economic, Demographic and Fiscal Effects of Immigration. Washington, DC: National Academy Press for the National Research Council, 1997.

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    A detailed analysis of the impact of immigrants in the United States on various dimensions. In particular, the fiscal impact of immigration depends on the characteristics of the migrants and the availability of social programs to immigrants. In federal systems, even where the fiscal impact is positive overall, the distribution may be uneven at the state and local levels.

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Immigration Control

Since the advent of the state system, the control of borders has been a central element of national sovereignty. National sovereignty defines the ability of states to choose the number and characteristics of individuals allowed to enter the territory as well as their treatment upon arrival (see section on Immigrant Incorporation). These policies have changed over time and distinctive flows have been recognized and incorporated into national laws. This section begins with the generic theories of immigration control, which could apply to any specific flow. Thereafter, distinctive types of flows are recognized, skilled migration, temporary migration, family migration, women’s migration, environmental migration, and new forms of migration. The final section presents research on undocumented entry and the actors that facilitate illegal flows across international boundaries.

Theories of Immigration Control

The literature on immigration control has focused on the determinants of immigration control policy at the national level. This research has a long history in the United States, with one of the earliest examples presented by Higham 1955. The interest in immigration control policy blossomed in Europe at the end of the period of economic growth following the Second World War that had drawn in guest workers and permanent migrants from European peripheries and colonial empires. Why, this literature asks, are some states more open to immigration than other states? And why have policy preferences changed over time? Much of the literature focuses on domestic political actors, employers, workers, taxpayers, and immigrants themselves, placed within the context of domestic political institutions. Hollifield 1992 argues that employers and courts create a “rights-market” coalition that promotes relatively open immigration policies in wealthy Western democracies. Freeman 1995 provides the classical political economy explanation of immigration policy based on concentrated benefits and diffuse costs. Money 1999 points out that because immigrants are geographically concentrated, the costs of migration may be concentrated as well, allowing anti-immigrant groups to organize politically; national political institutions determine how successful these anti-immigrant groups will be. Joppke 1998 is a highly cited article that combines and popularizes Hollifield’s and Freeman’s arguments. Meyers 2004 provides an overview of these theories as well as theoretical strands that run the gamut from a statist concept of “national interest” to class-based Marxist and world systems theories to constructivist theories that suggest the importance of globalization and post-national norms. Despite the gap that arises between state preferences for migration as reflected in policy and actual policy outcomes, Cornelius and Rosenblum 2005 affirms that states continue to define the level and type of legal immigration as well as the rights conferred on those migrants upon entry. Doomernick and Jandl 2008 presents an empirical overview of the national control policies that allows scholars to evaluate some of the hypotheses described above. Goodman 2014 describes yet another method of immigration control, running through nationality policy. FitzGerald and Cook-Martín 2014 demonstrates that democratic institutions in the Americas have been prone to select immigration based on racial criteria. This initial literature developed hypotheses about the determinants of policy choice at the national level, predominantly in wealthy Western democracies. In subsequent sections, we follow the literature from a focus on national-level politics to a more disaggregated approach that explores the various dimensions of enforcement (border, interior, and exterior) and the location of enforcement (national and subnational; public and private).

  • Cornelius, Wayne A., and Marc R. Rosenblum. “Immigration and Politics.” Annual Review of Political Science 8 (2005): 99–119.

    DOI: 10.1146/annurev.polisci.8.082103.104854Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Cornelius and Rosenblum point to the continuing gap between the control policies adopted by states and the actual outcomes. They observe, nonetheless, that states continue to define the level of legal migrants and the membership rights accorded to those migrants.

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  • Doomernick, Jeroen, and Michael Jandl, eds. Modes of Migration Regulation and Control in Europe. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2008.

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    This volume presents an empirical analysis of immigration control in Europe, distinguishing among external control, externalized control, and internal controls. This book provides an excellent overview of the mechanisms of control in modern Europe.

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  • FitzGerald, David, and David Cook-Martín. Culling the Masses: The Democratic Origins of Racist Immigration Policy in the Americas. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014.

    DOI: 10.4159/harvard.9780674369665Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This volume provides evidence from several countries on the racial criteria employed to select immigrant populations in the Americas while excluding immigrants from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

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  • Freeman, Gary. “Modes of Immigration Politics in Liberal Democratic States.” International Migration Review 29.4 (1995): 881–902.

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    Freeman’s widely cited article suggests that immigration politics are client based: that is, the benefits of immigration policy are concentrated while the costs of immigration policy are diffuse. This facilitates the political organization of proponents of more open immigration policies while the opponents experience problems of collective action in the political arena.

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  • Goodman, Sara Wallace. Immigration and Membership Politics in Western Europe. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

    DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781107477865Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Goodman points to a new policy tool—civic integration policies—that European states have employed to limit immigration, in particular, family migration, an arena that has been subject to the most stringent judicial constraints.

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  • Higham, John. Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860–1924. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1955.

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    This is one of the earliest books examining the determinants of nativism in the United States. Nativism is defined as “an intense opposition to an internal minority on the ground of its foreign connections” (p. 4). The rise and fall of nativism in the United States is attributed primarily to economic causes.

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  • Hollifield, James F. Immigrants, Markets and States: The Political Economy of Postwar Europe. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992.

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    Hollifield argues that the relative openness to immigration in European countries after the Second World War is a reflection of a “rights-market” coalition. Employers need immigrants to provide flexibility in tight labor markets and courts enforce human rights for immigrants, constraining states from disposing of immigrant labor when it was no longer needed or wanted.

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  • Joppke, Christian. “Why Liberal States Accept Unwanted Immigration.” World Politics 50.2 (1998): 266–293.

    DOI: 10.1017/S004388710000811XSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Joppke borrows from both Hollifield and Freeman to argue that states “self-limit” their sovereignty through client politics and through constraints created by the judiciary in liberal democracies.

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  • Meyers, Eytan. International Immigration Policy: A Theoretical and Comparative Analysis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

    DOI: 10.1057/9781403978370Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Meyers provides an excellent overview of the various theoretical approaches to understanding immigration control. The main explanatory variables include domestic political preferences and actors (detailed above), national interest, world systems theory, and forces emanating from the international system.

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  • Money, Jeannette. Fences and Neighbors: The Political Geography of Immigration Control. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999.

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    Money points out the political consequences of a well-known demographic fact: immigrants have been geographically concentrated within host states, allowing anti-immigrant political forces to organize. However, since immigration policy is made at the national level, the state’s political institutions shape when and whether local anti- (or pro-) political forces are catapulted to the national level.

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Quantitative Analyses of Immigration Control

In the absence of agreed empirical referents for immigration policy, the possibilities of theory building and theory testing on the politics of immigration control at the national level were exhausted. It has taken another decade to begin to generate data sets that provide a descriptive overview of cross-national variation and trends in policy. Early research (Rosenblum 2003) employed immigration flows as an indicator of immigration control policy. Subsequently, researchers have begun to compile and code immigration legislation, providing a descriptive analysis of immigration policy focused on OECD countries as well as providing a method of evaluating theories of immigration control (see Data for Migration Research). The DEMIG POLICY database, produced by the International Migration Institute Network at Oxford University, provides data on forty-five countries from 1945 to current. De Haas, et al. 2018 provides the first empirical overview of the data. The authors find that, on average, immigration policies are becoming more liberal although border control and exit policies are becoming more restrictive. A competing database is the Immigration Policies in Comparison (IMPIC) database. Helbling and Kalkum 2018 comes to similar conclusions with a similar set of countries. Helbling and Leblang 2019 explores the impact of immigration policies on actual flows of immigrants and concludes that policies do affect flows and therefore states can exert control over their borders. Abou-Chadi 2016 explores the role of political institutions as well as the level of electoral competition and the politicization of immigration as determinants; he employs data collected by Ortega and Peri 2014 for his empirical analysis. Other authors take immigration stocks or immigration flows as representative of immigration policies. Mirilovic 2010 employs migration stocks and net migration to evaluate the role of regime type and security threats on immigration policy outcomes. Breunig, et al. 2012 evaluates the role of regime type—democratic vs. autocratic—on bilateral immigration flows. Ahlen and Borang 2018 explores the relationship between civic integration policies (based on MIPEX data) on immigration flows.

  • Abou-Chadi, Tarik. “Political and Institutional Determinants of Immigration Policies.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 42.13 (2016): 2087–2110.

    DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2016.1166938Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author brings in the institutional context of immigration decision making as well as the level of electoral competition and the politicization of immigration. The hypotheses are evaluated quantitatively with data from eleven democracies from 1980 to 2005 based on data collected in Ortega and Peri 2014.

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  • Ahlen, Anton, and Frida Borang. “Immigration Control in Disguise? Civic Integration Policies and Immigrant Admission.” Nordic Journal of Migration Research 8.1 (2018): 3–14.

    DOI: 10.1515/njmr-2018-0004Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors explore the role of civic integration policies (based on MIPEX data) on immigration flows (based on OECD data) and find that both family immigration and labor immigration is reduced. They conclude that policies that seek to integrate immigrants tend to exclude newcomers.

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  • Breunig, Christian, Xun Cao, and Adam Luedtke. “Global Migration and Political Regime Type: A Democratic Disadvantage.” British Journal of Political Science 42 (2012): 825–854.

    DOI: 10.1017/S0007123412000051Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    These authors exploit data on bilateral immigration to evaluate the role of political regime type. The findings indicate that democracies tend to restrict immigration but allow the free flow of emigrants while autocracies tend to restrict emigration but facilitate immigration.

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  • de Haas, Hein, Katharina Natter, and Simona Vezzoli. “Growing Restrictiveness or Changing Selection? The Nature and Evolution of Migration Policies.” International Migration Review 52.2 (2018): 324–367.

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    The article provides an overview of immigration policies collected in the DEMIG POLICY database of forty-five countries from 1945 to current. The data show that liberal policy changes outnumber restrictive policy changes; by category, entry and integration policies are becoming less restrictive while border control and exit policies are become more restrictive.

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  • Helbling, Marc, and Dorina Kalkum. “Migration Policy Trends in OECD Countries.” Journal of European Public Policy 25.12 (2018): 1779–1797.

    DOI: 10.1080/13501763.2017.1361466Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors exploit the Immigration Policies in Comparison (IMPIC) data set to evaluate trends in immigration policies in all OECD countries. They find that policies governing entry and stay have become more liberal while the number of control mechanisms has increased. There has been some convergence but only partial evidence of the “Europeanization” of immigration policy.

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  • Helbling, Marc, and Davis Leblang. “Controlling Immigration? How Regulations Affect Migration Flows.” European Journal of Political Research 58.1 (2019): 248–269.

    DOI: 10.1111/1475-6765.12279Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article employs quantitative data to evaluate the effects of immigration policies on actual migration flows, based on data from 170 countries of origin to thirty-three OECD countries. The authors conclude that immigration policies do reduce flows and therefore states can control their borders, although immigration policies are only one factor in a broader equation.

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  • Mirilovic, Nikola. “The Politics of Immigration: Dictatorship, Development, and Defense.” Comparative Politics 42.3 (2010): 273–292.

    DOI: 10.5129/001041510X12911363509675Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Mirilovic focuses on the link between migration and security and hypothesizes that regime type, wealth, and security threats affect immigration policy choice. A quantitative analysis supports the theory and finds that autocracies have larger migrant stocks and flows as do countries that experience large-scale threats.

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  • Ortega, Francesc, and Giovani Peri. 2014. “Openness and Income: The Roles of Trade and Migration.” Journal of International Economics 92: 231–251.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2013.11.008Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors employ an instrumental-variables strategy to tease out the effects of international trade and migration on income per capita. They find a robust relationship between openness to immigration and income per capita but no relationship to level of international trade.

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  • Rosenblum, Marc. “The Political Determinants of Migration Control: A Quantitative Analysis.” Migraciones Internacionales 2.1 (2003): 161–170.

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    This article is one of the earliest efforts to evaluate quantitatively the various hypotheses about the determinants of immigration control policies. Immigration flows are employed as an indicator of state immigration policy.

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Immigration Federalism

Immigration policy has traditionally been studied at the level of the nation-state, as states are endowed with sovereignty over their borders. However, lower political units often have the responsibility to “integrate” the foreign population. So state governments and municipalities are now a component part in the formation of “immigrant integration” policies. The research on “immigration federalism” seeks to understand how the component levels of government interact to create a “national” integration policy. The research was initiated in the United States but has since spread to federal political systems in Europe and ultimately to even unitary political systems, as municipalities are where immigrants live and where integration actually takes place. However, in Europe, researchers often adopts the vocabulary of “multi-level governance” rather than immigration federalism. Research on the United States points to both anti- and pro-immigrant policies at the local level and attributes those policies to demographic change or to partisan politicking. Walker and Leitner 2011 and Varsanyi 2011 are early observers of immigration federalism in the United States, describing states and local governments taking contrasting stances—pro-immigrant and anti-immigrant; this was initially attributed to rapidly rising levels of immigration. This research was followed closely followed by a different narrative: Gulasekaram and Ramakrishnan 2013 and Gulasekaram and Ramakrishnan 2015 trace anti-immigrant local constituencies to Republican operatives who stymie immigrant reform at the national level to rally anti-immigrant sentiment and legislation at the local level in Republican dominant constituencies. Wong 2012 provides supporting empirical evidence. Steil and Vasi 2014 returns to the original frame of demographic change as the key variable of significance in local anti-immigrant policies but includes the framing of the issue as a threat to the local community. Wills and Commins 2018 finds that US states with “restrictive policy tone” experienced lower levels of foreign-born residents as well as lower unemployment and poverty rates; however, voter registration and turnout remained flat. Empirical research on subnational politics of immigration travels to countries other than the United States. Bhuyan and Smith-Carrier 2012 presents the Canadian case. Steen 2016 examines the Norwegian case. McCollum and Packwood 2017 provides data on Scottish local immigration policymaking. Kuehn 2018 provides a case study of Germany.

  • Bhuyan, Rupaleem, and Tracy Smith-Carrier. “Constructions of Migrant Rights in Canada: Is Subnational Citizenship Possible?” Citizenship Studies 16.2 (2012): 203–221.

    DOI: 10.1080/13621025.2012.667613Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article examines devolution of policy choice for immigrant integration at the local and provincial levels in Canada. The authors conclude that, despite the federal system in place that devolves some dimensions of policy choice to lower levels of government, federal policy appears to trump local policy in terms of education, safety, and income assistance.

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  • Gulasekaram, Pratheepan, and S. Karthick Ramakrishnan. “Immigration Federalism: A Reappraisal.” New York University Law Review 88 (2013): 2074–2145.

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    These authors reject the explanation that sees political stalemate at the federal level as the opportunity that opens space for local political entities to respond to influxes of migrants. Rather, federal inaction is engineered by Republican legislators purposively, so that Republican operatives can peddle anti-immigrant policies in local constituencies that are heavily Republican.

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  • Gulasekaram, Pratheepan, and S. Karthick Ramakrishnan. The New Immigration Federalism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015.

    DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781316282410Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors develop the argument laid out in Gulasekaram and Ramakrishnan 2013 that challenges the idea that local policies are a response to demographic shocks. Rather, the inability of the federal government to pass comprehensive immigration reform should be understood as a policy engineered by the Republican Party in order to open up the state and local space to the introduction of anti-immigrant policies.

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  • Kuehn, Manfred. “Immigration Strategies of Cities: Local Growth Policies and Urban Planning in Germany.” In Special Issue: EPS 25th Anniversary. European Planning Studies 26.9 (2018): 1747–1762.

    DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2018.1484428Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The structures of governance appear to work differently in Germany than in the United States. Länder, or states, have considerable control over the distribution of the immigrant population and sources of funding. So local governments are constrained in their ability to attract high skilled immigrants who could contribute economically but remain responsible for integration policies.

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  • McCollum, David, and Helen Packwood. “Rescaling Migration Studies: Migration Policy-Making and Implementation at the Local Government Level.” Scottish Geographical Journal 133.3–4 (2017): 155–171.

    DOI: 10.1080/14702541.2017.1409363Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The “new immigration federalism” was born in the United States and carried to the analyses of immigrant integration in both federal and unitary systems on a comparative basis. This article examines the variation of local government responses to immigration in Scotland, with the goal of disaggregating “the state” into its component parts in response to immigration.

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  • Steen, Anton. “Deciding Refugee Settlement in Norwegian Cities: Local Administration or Party Politics?” In Special Issue: Refugee Migration and Local Demarcations: New Insights into European Localities. Edited by Birgit Glorius, Jeroen Doomernik, and Anton Steen. Journal of Refugee Studies 29.4 (2016): 464–482.

    DOI: 10.1093/jrs/few032Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article elaborates the concept of multi-level governance on immigration issues. The authors study fourteen municipalities’ responses to the national governments’ request to resettle refugees. The authors find that the city administration rather than political parties frame the issue and shape the local response.

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  • Steil, Justin Peter, and Ion Bogdan Vasi. “The New Immigration Contestation: Social Movements and Local Immigration Policy Making in the United States, 2000–2011(1).” American Journal of Sociology 19.4 (2014): 1104–1155.

    DOI: 10.1086/675301Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    In the US context, municipalities can adopt either pro- or anti-immigrant policies. The authors suggest that pro-immigrant local policies are present where there are immigrant community organizations and sympathetic local allies. Anti-immigrant policies are adopted where changing demographics are framed by local politicians as threats to the community.

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  • Varsanyi, Monica. “Neoliberalism and Nativism: Local Anti-immigrant Policy Activism and an Emerging Politics of Scale.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 35. 2 (2011): 295–311.

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    This early article on local anti-immigrant policies focuses on illegal immigration ordinances in over 130 cities beginning in 2006. The author argues that this is a local response to neo-liberal policies adopted by the US government in an attempt to “rescale national boundaries.”

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  • Walker, Kyle E., and Helga Leitner. “The Variegated Landscape of Local Immigration Policies in the United States.” Urban Geography 32.2 (2011): 156–178.

    DOI: 10.2747/0272-3638.32.2.156Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article focuses on the variation in local policies in the United States—some exclusionary and some inclusionary. The explanatory variables include the rapid growth of the foreign-born population, the proportion of owner occupied housing, the education level of the community, communities in the South, and suburban localities.

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  • Wills, Jeremiah B., and Margaret M. Commins. “Consequences of the American States’ Legislative Action on Immigration.” Journal of International Migration and Integration 19.4 (2018): 1137–1152.

    DOI: 10.1007/s12134-018-0588-7Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors score each state between 2005 and 2014 on “policy tone” and, through statistical analysis of panel data, find that states with higher restrictive “tones” experience reductions in the number of foreign-born residents, lower unemployment and poverty rates but no impact on voter registration and turnout.

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  • Wong, Tom K. “287(g) and the Politics of Interior Immigration Control in the United States: Explaining Local Cooperation with Federal Immigration Authorities.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 38.5 (2012): 737–756.

    DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2012.667983Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article provides a sophisticated statistical analysis of all US counties and the adoption of policies to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts. The author concludes that partisanship drives local policy, mediated by the presence of established immigrant communities and their political power.

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Immigration Enforcement and State Sovereignty

From issues of immigration control, research then turned to the immigration enforcement mechanisms themselves, controls at the border, interior control mechanisms, and exterior border controls. The research also examines the various actors that implement enforcement measures: supranational agencies, national bureaucracies, state and local governments, as well as private actors such as transportation companies. As part of the research on immigration enforcement, scholars ask about the ability of the state to control migration: Is national sovereignty compromised? If so, what constraints does the state experience? Cornelius, et al. 2014 presents the controversial “gap hypothesis” that suggests that wealthy Western democracies are unable to achieve the level of immigration control desired by citizens in migrant-receiving states. The initial and classical response of Freeman 1994 argues that state capacity to control migration is significant, as states adapt their policies and enforcement mechanisms to deal with new challenges. Guiraudon 2000 presents the concept of venue shopping as a method via which states can skirt national constraints on immigration policymaking, with the European Union as an example of shifting national immigration policymaking to the supranational level in order to retain control. Guiraudon and Lahav 2000 follows by elaborating on state adaptation by pointing out that states are able to delegate to international institutions, nonstate actors, and local authorities. Lavenex 2006 demonstrates yet greater adaptability on the part of the state by tracing how national immigration ministers have shifted to the European Union and, beyond this, to European Union foreign policy, to regain control over immigration.

  • Cornelius, Wayne, Philip Martin, and James Hollifield, eds. Controlling Immigration: A Global Perspective. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2014.

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    Presents chapters on the state of immigration and immigration control in wealthy Western democracies in Europe, North America, and the Pacific. In the initial volume, the “gap hypothesis” was introduced, which suggested a gap between what states and publics wanted in terms of immigration control and the flows that they received (originally published in 1994).

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  • Freeman, Gary P. “Can Liberal States Control Unwanted Migration?” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 534 (1994): 17–30.

    DOI: 10.1177/0002716294534001002Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This early article disaggregates immigration control by legal immigration, illegal immigration, temporary worker programs, and asylum seekers and refugees. Freeman argues that although policy failures are numerous, states respond by adapting policies and that state capacity to control migration is growing rather than declining.

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  • Guiraudon, Virginie. “European Integration and Migration Policy: Vertical Policy-Making as Venue Shopping.” Journal of Common Market Studies 38.2 (2000): 251–271.

    DOI: 10.1111/1468-5965.00219Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Guiraudon argues that national politicians circumvent national constraints on policymaking by choosing a supranational forum and enlisting law and order officials to introduce more restrictive policies.

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  • Guiraudon, Virginie, and Gallya Lahav. “A Reappraisal of the State Sovereignty Debate: The Case of Migration Control.” Comparative Political Studies 33.2 (2000): 163–195.

    DOI: 10.1177/0010414000033002001Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors argue that in response to rising immigration pressures, states have shifted the institutional locations for policymaking and enforcement up to international institutions, out to nonstate actors, and down to local authorities. Thus states have adapted to and retain indirect control over migration at yet another level.

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  • Lavenex, Sandra. “Shifting Up and Out: The Foreign Policy of European Immigration Control.” West European Politics 29.2 (2006): 329–350.

    DOI: 10.1080/01402380500512684Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Lavenex argues that European states are moving immigration policy from the domestic policy arena to the European Union policy arena and thence to the foreign policy sphere in a bid to “increase their autonomy toward political, normative and institutional constraints on policy-making” (p. 329).

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Immigration Enforcement

Although states clearly have preferences over the level of immigration, there are varying degrees to which these preferences actually have an impact over outcomes. Varsanyi, et al. 2010 points out that enforcement is not merely national but takes place at the state and local levels as well. Van der Leun 2006 illustrates this point empirically by describing how local enforcement of national policy allows undocumented migrants to remain in the Netherlands. Ellermann 2009 highlights the tension between sending and receiving states when receiving states attempt to repatriate undocumented migrants, using Germany and the United States for empirical evidence. Vigneswaran 2008 argues that immigration control in post-apartheid South Africa is determined in large part by the existing institutional structure created under apartheid. Duvell and Jordan 2003 examines the tensions within the enforcement bureaucracy that may lead to dysfunction; empirical evidence from the United Kingdom informs the discussion. Ruhs and Anderson 2010 develops the concept of semi-compliance with immigration rules, which makes it more difficult to achieve immigration enforcement goals. Tedong, et al. 2018 provides a description of immigration enforcement in Malaysia that illustrates the gap between the goals of the government and the immigration outcomes. Woodland and Yoshida 2006 develops a formal model of immigration enforcement and demonstrate that there are multiple and unstable equilibria. Amoore 2006 introduces the concept of “biometric borders” associated with new technology that identifies individuals through facial recognition, among other techniques. Djajić 2017 provides a careful analysis of transit migration, both as a migrant strategy and as a mechanism of control.

  • Amoore, Louise. “Biometric Borders: Governing Mobilities in the War on Terror.” Political Geography 25.3 (2006): 336–351.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2006.02.001Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This highly cited article explores the concept of “biometric borders” incorporated into the US VISIT program. The author highlights the use of risk profiling through biometric techniques, based on the assumption that biometrics is associated with identity and observes that these techniques are employed by both states and private security actors.

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  • Djajić, Slobodan. “Transit Migration.” Review of International Economics 25.5 (2017): 1017–1045.

    DOI: 10.1111/roie.12294Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author examines the routes migrants take to reach the ultimate country of destination; unauthorized migrants usually transit one or more countries on route. This is an efficient method of generating resources to pay for migration. The effectiveness of internal controls in transit states and border controls in destination states tend to reinforce each other.

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  • Duvell, Frank, and Bill Jordan. “Immigration Control and the Management of Economic Migration in the United Kingdom: Organisational Culture, Implementation, Enforcement and Identity Processes in Public Services.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 29.2 (2003): 299–336.

    DOI: 10.1080/1369183032000079620Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Provides a case study that can partially account for the gap between immigration policy and immigration outcomes. The various bureaus within the public sector can often work against each other or, at the very least, fail to coordinate effectively.

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  • Ellermann, Antje. States against Migrants: Deportation in Germany and the United States. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

    DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511626494Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Ellermann focuses on the implementation of immigration control through deportation of undocumented aliens, with a comparison of Germany and the United States. She notes that interstate cooperation is required to deport aliens and, absent that cooperation, states have limited efficacy in controlling immigration.

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  • Ruhs, Martin, and Bridget Anderson. “Semi-Compliance and Illegality in Migrant Labour Markets: An Analysis of Migrants, Employers and the State in the UK.” Population, Space and Place 16.3 (2010): 195–211.

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    The authors abandon the idea of illegality as a dichotomous variable and present the idea of “semi-compliance” with immigration policy, such as entering a country legally but taking up work forbidden by visa conditions. Semi-compliance suits immigrants and employers and the state seems unable to control it.

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  • Tedong, Peter Aning, Abdul Rahim Abdul Kadir, Kazimah Roslan, and Linda A. Lumayag. “Neoliberalism and the Challenges of Managing Labour Migration in Urban Malaysia.” International Migration 56.5 (2018): 151–166.

    DOI: 10.1111/imig.12437Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This descriptive piece presents evidence that Malaysia’s enforcement agencies face challenges associated with documentation, finance and manpower capability, and political intervention. They are therefore unable to carry out the goals of the Malaysian government to reduce undocumented migration.

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  • van der Leun, Joanne. “Excluding Illegal Migrants in the Netherlands: Between National Policies and Local Implementation.” West European Politics 29.2 (2006): 310–326.

    DOI: 10.1080/01402380500512650Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Points out that although immigration policy is determined at the national level, it is often implemented at the local level. Excluding undocumented immigrant access to state services has been difficult in the Netherlands because of the norms of professional social workers who implement policy.

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  • Varsanyi, Monica W., Paul G. Lewis, Doris Marie Provine, and Scott Decker. “A Multilayered Jurisdictional Patchwork: Immigration Federalism in the United States.” Law & Policy 34.2 (2010): 138–158.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9930.2011.00356.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors point to the various levels of enforcement of immigration policy in the United States, an appropriate reminder that, although immigration policy is often reserved for the national political arena, lower levels of government are often involved in enforcement and even in policymaking.

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  • Vigneswaran, Darshan. “Enduring Territoriality: South African Immigration Control.” Political Geography 27.7 (2008): 783–801.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2008.10.003Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Vigneswaran takes a historical institutionalist approach to the implementation of immigration control and points out how the policing and immigration enforcement bureaucracies originating under apartheid constrained the ability of the South African state to implement “community enforcement,” an internal immigration control policy adopted post-apartheid.

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  • Woodland, Alan D., and Chisato Yoshida. “Risk Preference, Immigration Policy and Illegal Immigration.” Journal of Development Economics 81.2 (2006): 500–513.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2005.06.002Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors develop a formal model to study immigration enforcement (border patrols and interior enforcement) with variation in risk preference. They show that there are multiple and unstable equilibria.

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Effects of Enforcement

Research on enforcement examines not only the determinants of immigration enforcement but also the intended and unintended consequences of enforcement. Two highly cited articles—Cornelius 2001 and Eschbach, et al. 1999—point to the rise in immigrant deaths along the US- Mexico border that followed increased enforcement in the 1990s. Cornelius 2001 also notes the additional impacts: the failure to discourage immigration to the United States and the rise in permanent settlement of migrants. This is echoed in later research in Amuedo-Dorantes, et al. 2013, which relies on interviews with illegal migrants who returned to Mexico. Donato and Armenta 2011 and Flores and Schachter 2018 both emphasize the idea that illegality is not merely a legal status but a social construction built on stereotypes. Núñez and Heyman 2007 points to the “entrapment” of migrant populations in neighborhoods as a result of heightened enforcement. A highly cited article, Chauvin and Garces-Mascarenas 2012 points to the informal citizenship gained by undocumented immigrants based on activities in the host country and how this exercise is abbreviated by heightened immigration enforcement. Cornelius and Salehyan 2007 provides evidence that enhanced border enforcement in the United States does not deter immigration from Mexico; rather, economic and family concerns are paramount. Massey, et al. 2016 shows that increased border enforcement in the United States increased permanent settlement of Mexicans in the United States. Kirk, et al. 2012 examines the impact of increased enforcement on public safety as immigrants, both documented and undocumented, lose faith in the policing apparatus and do not cooperate to report and resolve crimes.

  • Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina, Thitima Puttitanun, and Ana P. Martinez-Donate. “How Do Tougher Immigration Measures Affect Unauthorized Immigrants? Demography 50.3 (2013): 1067–1091.

    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-013-0200-xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Based on interviews of unauthorized immigrants who returned to Mexico, the authors conclude that increased enforcement of state-level immigration measures increases fear of deportation, reduces mobility in the United States, and decreases the immigrants’ intent to return to the United States.

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  • Chauvin, Sebatien, and Blanca Garces-Mascarenas. “Beyond Informal Citizenship: The New Moral Economy of Migrant Illegality.” International Political Sociology 6.3 (2012): 241–259.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-5687.2012.00162.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article rejects the duality of citizenship versus foreign status, pointing out that illegal migrants gain attributes of citizenship based on their activities in the host country, leading to greater acceptance of formal citizenship. Increased enforcement puts this trajectory at risk.

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  • Cornelius, Wayne A. “Death at the Border: Efficacy and Unintended Consequences of US Immigration Control Policy.” Population and Development Review 27.4 (2001): 661–685.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2001.00661.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This highly cited article describes how US immigration enforcement along the southern border pushed migrants into hazardous areas and increased the reliance on smugglers. Both outcomes led to increased deaths in the border region but failed to discourage would-be migrants. Moreover, migrants who circulated between Mexico and the United States began to settle permanently.

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  • Cornelius, Wayne A., and Idean Salehyan. “Does Border Enforcement Deter Unauthorized Immigration? The Case of Mexican Migration to the United States of America.” Regulation and Governance 1.2 (2007): 139–153.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-5991.2007.00007.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors employ a survey of returned migrants and potential first-time migrants in Mexico to evaluate whether increased border enforcement deters immigration. They conclude that enforcement had little effect on migration plans; rather, economic and family concerns were paramount.

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  • Donato, Katharine M., and Amanda Armenta. “What We Know about Unauthorized Migration.” Annual Review of Sociology 37 (2011): 529–543.

    DOI: 10.1146/annurev-soc-081309-150216Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors review the scholarship on unauthorized migration to date, noting that “illegality” is a social construction in addition to a legal category.

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  • Eschbach, Karl, Jacqueline Hagan, Nestor Rodriguez, Rubén Hernández-León, and Stanley Bailey. “Death at the Border.” International Migration Review 33.2 (1999): 430–454.

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    This is an early article that delineates the (unintended) consequences of increased border enforcement on the US southern border with Mexico. Increased border enforcement pushed migrants to more challenging border areas where migrants succumb to hyperthermia and dehydration.

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  • Flores, Rene D., and Ariela Schachter. “Who Are the ‘Illegals’? The Social Construction of Illegality in the United States.” American Sociological Review 83.5 (2018): 839–868.

    DOI: 10.1177/0003122418794635Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors argue that “illegality” is socially defined through the use of cues from national origin, social class, and criminal background. They present evidence from a paired conjoint survey experiment of US non-Hispanic adults to substantiate their conclusions.

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  • Kirk, David S., Andrew V. Papachristos, Jeffrey Fagan, and Tom R. Tyler. “The Paradox of Law Enforcement in Immigrant Communities: Does Tough Immigrant Enforcement Undermine Public Safety?” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 641 (2012): 79–98.

    DOI: 10.1177/0002716211431818Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors employ survey data from New York City in 2002 to evaluate the impact of “perceived injustices” experienced by immigrants on their willingness to cooperate with law enforcement to report and help resolve crimes in their neighborhoods.

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  • Massey, Douglas S., Jorge Durand, and Karen A. Pren. “Why Border Enforcement Backfired.” American Journal of Sociology 121.5 (2016): 1557–1600.

    DOI: 10.1086/684200Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors employ a quantitative analysis to demonstrate that the enhanced border enforcement vis-à-vis Mexican immigrants to the United States changed a circular flow to three states into permanent settlement in all fifty states.

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  • Núñez, Guillermina Gina, and Josiah McC. Heyman. “Entrapment Processes and Immigrant Communities in a Time of Heightened Border Vigilance.” Human Organization 66.4 (2007): 354–365.

    DOI: 10.17730/humo.66.4.v32mp32167k8l705Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors point to enforcement techniques that entrap migrants by limiting their movement. They provide three ethnographic cases and point to the ethical issues associated with entrapment.

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Illegal Entry, Immigrant Smuggling, and Human Trafficking

States adopt policies that govern the level of openness and implement those policies via interior, border, and exterior enforcement. When the supply of migrants exceeds the demand, migrants seek to evade these control mechanisms by crossing borders outside of ports of entry or by breaking the terms of their entry documents. These immigrants are variously labeled “undocumented,” “illegal,” and “irregular.” However, as states enhance their control capacities, crossing international borders begins to require the help of intermediaries. When the migrant requests and receives these services without coercion, this is labeled “smuggling.” When the migrant is coerced, the transaction is labeled “trafficking.” Both activities are now subject to UN conventions, the “Palermo Protocols” to the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime: The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children; and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air. The research on illegal entry focuses on understanding the conditions under which illegal migration flows arise, the incentive structures of the intermediaries, how they affect migrant human rights, and the level of international cooperation. Salt and Stein 1997 observes the rise of smuggling and trafficking and places it in the economic context of providing services to migrants who are unable to cross more highly enforced borders on their own. Salt 2000 argues that additional empirical research is needed. Andreas 2009 illustrates the interdependence of border enforcement and smuggler strategies. Heckmann 2004 addresses immigration agents that arise in response to enhanced enforcement and provides a discussion on the role of smugglers. Bilger, et al. 2006 takes up the idea of smuggling as an illicit business in the empirical context of Austria. Aronowitz 2009 provides empirical evidence to demonstrate that sex trafficking is only one component of a larger arena of smuggling and trafficking. Koser 2010 points out that enforcement is only one of several means of dealing with undocumented migration; regularization programs that turn undocumented migrants into documented migrants is one such policy that is implemented frequently in Europe and the United States. Van Liempt 2011 provides a gendered perspective; understanding women’s decisions to migrate illegally requires understanding the conditions they seek to leave behind. Kyle and Koslowski 2011 brings together numerous authors with case studies of smuggling and trafficking around the globe, including a historical perspective. Gallagher 2001 addresses trafficking and smuggling from the perspective of migrant rights and argues that the UN Conventions on smuggling and trafficking are oriented toward crime rather than rights.

  • Andreas, Peter. Border Games: Policing the U.S.-Mexico Divide. 2d ed. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2009.

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    Focuses on the political economy of smuggling and trafficking. Andreas points out the interdependence of smuggling and the state and argues that the escalation of border enforcement on the US-Mexico border is a function of policy feedback effects and the need for politicians to manage the image of the border for constituent support.

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  • Aronowitz, Alexis A. “The Smuggling-Trafficking Nexus and the Myths Surrounding Human Trafficking.” In Immigration, Crime and Justice. Edited by W. F. McDonald, 107–128. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group, 2009.

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    The research points to countries of origin as the initial locus of exploitation of migrants; trafficking includes men, as well as women and children, so that sexual exploitation should not be the primary lens with which to view trafficking.

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  • Bilger, Veronika, Martin Hofmann, and Michael Jandl. “Human Smuggling as a Transnational Service Industry: Evidence from Austria.” International Migration 44.4 (2006): 59–93.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2435.2006.00380.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors present human smuggling as a transnational service industry that links service providers with their clients. Issues of incomplete information are critical to understanding the market and make human smuggling distinctive from other types of criminal activities.

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  • Gallagher, Anne T. “Human Rights and the New UN Protocols on Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling: A Preliminary Analysis.” Human Rights Quarterly 23.4 (2001): 975–1004.

    DOI: 10.1353/hrq.2001.0049Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Provides a detailed review of the United Nations protocols on trafficking and smuggling. Gallagher argues that the protocols emphasize the criminal nature of the activity and provide limited protection of migrant rights.

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  • Heckmann, Friedrich. “Illegal Migration: What Can We Know and What Can We Explain? The Case of Germany.” International Migration Review 38.3 (2004): 1103–1125.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-7379.2004.tb00230.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Points out that, in the current era of immigration control, illegal migration often requires the services of smugglers. This article outlines the various forms of human smuggling, using concepts of markets and network theory, and points to the adaptability of smugglers to new forms of enforcement.

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  • Koser, Khalid. “Dimensions and Dynamics of Irregular Migration.” Population, Space and Place 16.3 (2010): 181–193.

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    Provides an overview of dimensions of irregular migration, including how statistics on irregular migration are created and distinctions among smuggling, trafficking, and asylum. The article also provides an overview of regularization programs, and the causes and consequences of irregular migration.

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  • Kyle, David, and Rey Koslowski. Global Human Smuggling: Comparative Perspectives. 2d ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011.

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    This edited volume updates the original research (2001) on both smuggling and trafficking. The volume includes an important historical dimension as well as country case studies that illuminate the various dimensions of trafficking and smuggling. Finally, the authors address issues of international cooperation on trafficking and smuggling.

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  • Salt, John. “Trafficking and Human Smuggling: A European Perspective.” International Migration 38.3 (2000): 31–56.

    DOI: 10.1111/1468-2435.00114Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Argues that the facts of human trafficking and smuggling have outrun the actual empirical research on the issue. The article delineates what we currently know and outlines research priorities.

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  • Salt, John, and Jeremy Stein. “Migration as a Business: The Case of Trafficking.” International Migration 35.4 (1997): 467–494.

    DOI: 10.1111/1468-2435.00023Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors describe international migration as a global business with both legal and illegal components. As wealthy Western democracies increase border controls and enforcement, entrepreneurs arise to move individuals across international borders by evading border controls.

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  • van Liempt, Ilse. “Different Geographies and Experiences of ‘Assisted’ Types of Migration: A Gendered Critique on the Distinction between Trafficking and Smuggling.” Gender, Place and Culture 18.2 (2011): 179–193.

    DOI: 10.1080/0966369X.2011.552316Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author relies on research involving fifty-six interviews of women in “assisted” migration. She points out the gendered dimension of the discourse on smuggling and trafficking that overlooks the risks of remaining at home by focusing only on the risks of assisted migration. Women are not merely victims but also agents in the migration process.

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Human Trafficking

A subset of research on illegal immigration and immigration enforcement is trafficking in persons; as noted above, trafficking involves coercion and raises the issue of treatment of migrants as victim. Because it is an illegal activity, the estimates of the trafficked population are controversial. Trafficking can involve both the sex trade as well as other forms of human slavery and it can be both domestic and international. The research cited here deals with international human trafficking; one strand focuses on international cooperation via the Palermo Protocols on Smuggling and Trafficking to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2000. Money and Lockhart 2018 traces the negotiations of the Palermo Protocols to the UNTOC; adoption of this multilateral instrument is attributed, in part, to the recent rise of human trafficking in Europe associated with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which modified the costs of the status quo for powerful states in the international system. Doezema 2005 describes one central debate in the negotiations—the definition of sex work and sexual exploitation. Simmons, et al. 2018 argues that laws on human trafficking diffused in the international system based on states’ perceptions of vulnerability to neighboring states’ policy choices. A second strand of research examines the impact of international and domestic legislation on trafficking victims. Lobasz 2009 presents a feminist perspective on human trafficking that shifts the debate away from state security and toward human security and human rights. Chacon 2010 points to the tension between US domestic legislation on trafficking and immigration enforcement. Soltis and Walters 2018 describes the use of different labels employed by US immigration enforcement personnel to categorize migrants, allowing law enforcement officials to miss-identify and therefore not protect victims of trafficking. Schonhofer 2017 provides empirical evidence that suggests that states with higher numbers of female parliamentarians and left party governance provide better protection to trafficking victims. Jakobsson and Kotsadam 2013 traces empirically the levels of trafficking for sexual exploitation and attributes variation to whether or not domestic legislation prohibits prostitution. Weitzer 2014 argues that current reports on the extent of trafficking are unsubstantiated by data; the author recommends micro-level analysis is the best location for research on human trafficking and will provide the best policy solutions. Winterdyk and Reichel 2010 introduces a special issue on human trafficking that focuses on state practices.

  • Chacon, Jennifer M. “Tensions and Trade-Offs: Protecting Trafficking Victims in the Era of Immigration Enforcement.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review 158.6 (2010): 1609–1653.

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    The US legislation, Trafficking Victims Protection Act 2000, promises to protect victims of trafficking. However, the author argues, a tension exists between the protections provided by the act and immigration enforcement.

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  • Doezema, Jo. “Now You See Her, Now You Don’t: Sex Workers at the UN Trafficking Protocol Negotiations.” Social & Legal Studies 14.1 (2005): 61–89.

    DOI: 10.1177/0964663905049526Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author follows the negotiations of the Protocol to Suppress, Prevent and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. One central issue was whether sex work is voluntary and distinctive from trafficking.

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  • Jakobsson, Niklas, and Andreas Kotsadam. “The Law and Economics of International Sex Slavery: Prostitution Laws and Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation.” European Journal of Law and Economics 35.1 (2013): 87–107.

    DOI: 10.1007/s10657-011-9232-0Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors evaluate empirically the determinants of the level of trafficking for sexual exploitation. Where prostitution is illegal, human trafficking seems to be at the lowest level, whereas states with legalized prostitution experience the highest levels of trafficking for sexual exploitation. They present quantitative data and case studies from Norway and Sweden.

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  • Lobasz, Jennifer K. “Beyond Border Security: Feminist Approaches to Human Trafficking.” Security Studies 18.2 (2009): 319–344.

    DOI: 10.1080/09636410902900020Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    In contrast to traditional approaches that perceive human trafficking as a state security issue, feminist approaches take a human rights approach and prioritize human security.

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  • Money, Jeannette, and Sarah Lockhart. “Criminality in Migration: Successful Multilateral Cooperation.” In Migration Crises and the Structure of International Cooperation. Edited by Jeannette Money and Sarah Lockhart, 170–205. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2018.

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    This chapter traces the negotiations of the Palermo Protocols to the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime to show the conditions under which states cooperate on issues of international migration.

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  • Schonhofer, Johanna. “Political Determinants of Efforts to Protect Victims of Human Trafficking.” Crime, Law and Social Change 67.2 (2017): 153–185.

    DOI: 10.1007/s10611-016-9643-5Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author employs quantitative analysis to evaluate national determinants of protection of trafficking victims in thirty-three wealthy Western democracies. She finds that the share of female parliamentarians and the proportion of left parties in a cabinet are associated with stronger protection of victims.

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  • Simmons, Beth A., Paulette Lloyd, and Brandon M. Stewart. “The Global Diffusion of Law: Transnational Crime and the Case of Human Trafficking.” International Organization 72.2 (2018): 249–281.

    DOI: 10.1017/S0020818318000036Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors argue that the framing of human trafficking as a criminal activity facilitated the diffusion of laws governing trafficking. A quantitative analysis shows that road networks along which traffickers traveled is a mechanism that links neighbors’ actions on trafficking to state legislation.

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  • Soltis, Katherine, and Rebecca Walters. “‘What’s in a Name?’: Mislabelling, Misidentification, and the US Government’s Failure to Protect Human Trafficking Survivors in the Central American Refugee Crisis.” In Special Issue: Irregular Migrants, Refugees or Trafficked Persons? Edited by Claus K. Meyer and Sebastian Boll. Anti-Trafficking Review 11 (2018): 85–102.

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    The authors find that legal definitions of immigrants—“victim of trafficking,” “smuggled migrant,” “illegal alien,” and “refugee”—are misused in ways that reduce protection for victims of trafficking that US legislation provides. Evidence from the Central America refugee crisis is employed to illustrate the problem.

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  • Weitzer, Ronald. “New Directions in Research on Human Trafficking.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 653.1 (2014): 6–24.

    DOI: 10.1177/0002716214521562Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Weitzer argues that current claims about the magnitude of human trafficking are not verifiable. He also suggests that microlevel research is more appropriate for both identifying the magnitude of the problem and the “contextually appropriate policy and enforcement responses.”

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  • Winterdyk, John, and Philip Reichel. “Introduction” In Special Issue: Human Trafficking: Issues and Perspectives.” European Journal of Criminology 7.1 (2010): 5–10.

    DOI: 10.1177/1477370809347894Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors introduce a special issue on trafficking that includes articles on the US and Canadian practices for combatting trafficking as well as European practices and initiatives proposed by the United Nations.

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International Travel Regime

The international travel regime has only recently been identified as a distinctive dimension of international cooperation on migration. The seminal piece is Koslowski 2011, which differentiates among the refugee regime, the labor migration regime, and the international travel regime. The international travel regime affects all individuals who cross international borders, both voluntary and forced international migrants as well as short-term entrants, such as businesspersons, tourists, and individuals who come to visit family. Koslowski goes on to describe a wide array of international collaboration on international travel, pointing out that international cooperation is highest in this specific mobility regime. The central issue of the international travel regime is how to facilitate entry for individuals who are desired by the state while preventing entry of those whose presence is not desired (labeled “secure facilitation”). One central component of the international travel regime is the travel document: passports and visas, for example. Torpey 2000 provides a historical account of state building and documentation for citizens to move within the nation-state as well as to distinguish between native and foreigner. Salter 2003 provides a more detailed account of the global adoption of the British passport. Salter 2006 argues that the passport and visa system is a mechanism of control over individuals. Wang 2004 describes the Taiwan visa system and notes that mobility is unevenly distributed both within and among states. Sadiq 2011 points out that passports are dependent on the state’s underlying ability to document individuals within a state (“breeder documents”), beginning with birth certificates. Developing states are often limited in their capacity to document their population, reducing the availability and veracity of passports. Another central component of the international travel regime is inspection at the border through ports of entry and the patrolling of the “green border,” the border between ports of entry. Ackleson 2011 argues that even among developed states, national security interests prevent an optimal amount of cooperation among states on border inspection. An often-overlooked dimension of cooperation on international travel is the UN Travel Ban, described in Ginsburg and Tanaka 2011. Gavrilis 2011 describes efforts to improve cooperation between developed and developing states by exporting “border management assistance” to specific sending or transit states. The “critical mobilities school” is represented by Kloppenburg 2013. The article traces public and private actors that regulate individuals’ movement among states in the international system over time and space. More recently, scholars have created data sets that trace visa regimes and connect visa regimes with immigration control, thereby linking the two issue areas.

  • Ackleson, Jason. “International Cooperation on Border Security in the Developed World: The U.S.-Canada and U.S.-EU Cases.” In Global Mobility Regimes. Edited by Rey Koslowski, 95–114. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

    DOI: 10.1057/9781137001948_5Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Ackleson introduces the concept of “security community” to analyze cooperation on international travel between wealthy Western democracies: the United States and Canada and the United States and the European Union. He argues that although local cooperation at borders remains strong, it is less well constructed at the national political and policy levels.

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  • Gavrilis, George. “Border Management Assistance and Global Mobility Regimes: Evidence from Afghanistan, Bosnia, and the Central Asian Republics.” In Global Mobility Regimes. Edited by Rey Koslowski, 131–150. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

    DOI: 10.1057/9781137001948_7Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Gavrilis documents the “offshoring” of border management from wealthy Western democracies to poor, often authoritarian, regimes. These states are source or transit states, and wealthy Western democracies deploy resources and training to these countries to insert an additional layer of inspection in the international travel regime.

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  • Ginsburg, Susan, and Hiroyuki Tanaka. “United Nations Travel Bans.” In Global Mobility Regimes. Edited by Rey Koslowski, 151–160. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

    DOI: 10.1057/9781137001948_8Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    United Nations travel bans are a form of sanction that can be applied to leaders of states that violate UN principles. The UN Security Council decides who to place on the travel ban, which can include the extended family of the principal target.

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  • Kloppenburg, Sanneke. “Mapping the Contours of Mobilities Regimes: Air Travel and Drug Smuggling between the Caribbean and the Netherlands.” Mobilities 8.1 (2013): 52–69.

    DOI: 10.1080/17450101.2012.747766Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Kloppenburg uses the case of drug smuggling from the Caribbean and the Netherlands to illustrate a mobilities regime, a set of regulations that attempts to facilitate legitimate travel while preventing illegitimate travel. Cooperation among states and private actors is substantial and creates borders at various locations at various times.

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  • Koslowski, Rey. “The International Travel Regime.” In Global Mobility Regimes. Edited by Rey Koslowski, 1–28. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

    DOI: 10.1057/9781137001948_1Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This chapter introduces readers to the international travel regime by surveying the types and numbers of people who cross international borders annually, far exceeding refugee and labor migration flows. Koslowski argues that greater international cooperation is visible here because there is larger support for travelers from the tourism industry and relatively little opposition.

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  • Sadiq, Kamal. “A Global Documentary Regime? Building State Capacity in the Developing World.” In Global Mobility Regimes. Edited by Rey Koslowski, 151–160. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

    DOI: 10.1057/9781137001948_8Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Sadiq explores border management from the perspective of developing countries, noting that these states have weak bureaucracies and therefore lack the capacity to document all of their citizens. This represents a problem for the international travel regime as birth certificates are primary “breeder” documents that underlie the international passport regime.

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  • Salter, Mark B. Rights of Passage: The Passport in International Relations. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2003.

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    Salter’s book examines how states control the movement of individuals across international borders through the use of travel documents, from the “health passport” in Italian city-states during the bubonic plague to the modern-day passport with its biometric features.

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  • Salter, Mark B. “The Global Visa Regime and the Political Technologies of the International Self: Borders, Bodies, Biopolitics.” Alternatives 31.2 (2006): 167–189.

    DOI: 10.1177/030437540603100203Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article focuses on the construction of the contemporary travel regime based on documentation of the individual through passports and the control of borders through national visa systems.

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  • Torpey, John. The Invention of the Passport: Surveillance, Citizenship and the State. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

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    Torpey provides a detailed account of the use of travel documents in Europe during the period of the French Revolution as a method of state building (“embracing” the state’s population), by controlling the “legitimate means of movement.” Identification documents such as the passport provide for free movement within the state while constraining entry and exit of both citizens and foreigners.

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  • Wang, Horng-luen. “Regulating Transnational Flows of People: An Institutional Analysis of Passports and Visas as a Regime of Mobility.” Identities: Global Studies in Global Culture and Power 11.3 (2004): 351–376.

    DOI: 10.1080/10702890490493536Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author examines the mobility regime through the lens of the Taiwan passport, noting that passports issued by different states have different values, leading to an “inequality in mobility” generated via power relations and economic inequality.

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Quantitative Analyses of Visa Systems

The travel or mobility regime is governed via passports and visa systems. Passports identify individuals as citizens of specific states and visa systems and visa waivers govern which individuals can move across international borders and the conditions of movement. Thus, researchers who study the travel regime are now gathering data on visa systems and visa waivers to better understand the patterns and determinants of mobility. Mau, et al. 2015 presents quantitative data on visa waiver systems between 1969 and 2000 for more than 150 countries. Bangwayo-Skeete and Skeete 2017 takes the perspective of the tourism industry in analyzing the determinants of visa-free travel. Czaika, et al. 2018 presents a new data set on visa systems for 214 countries from 1960 to 2013. Czaika and de Haas 2017 analyzes the determinants of visa systems, providing a connection between the mobility regime that governs border crossing and the migration regime which governs stay.

Research on Specific Immigration Flows

Voluntary international migration was originally viewed as identical to “economic” or “labor market” migration. As interest in immigration grew, researchers began to distinguish among types of labor market flows, differentiating between “high-skilled” migration as opposed to “low-skilled” migration. Subsequently, a wide array of migrant categories has been recognized: temporary migrants, family migrants, women migrants, environmental migrants, international students, and migration in regions characterized by freedom of movement. Each of these categories has generated a research agenda of its own, as elaborated below.

Skilled Migration Policies

The research on high-skilled migration comes in at least two waves. The initial wave reflected the concerns of developing states at the loss of many of their professionals to high salaries and better living conditions in wealthy countries. Much of this research comes under the label of “the brain drain,” clearly designating the negative perspective on highly skilled migration. Bhagwati 1979 is representative of this literature; in this article, the author assumes that the impact is negative and discusses a number of taxation schemes to compensate poor countries for their loss. However, skilled migration was a relatively small part of the flow after the Second World War when many wealthy Western democracies employed predominantly low-skilled migrant labor to help rebuild their war-torn economies. The oil crisis of 1973–1974 shattered the patterns of high economic growth and led these countries to close their doors to labor migrants, if they had not already done so. However, the information and communications innovations of the 1990s triggered a new demand for migrants: only this time for highly skilled, rather than low-skilled, migrants. This demand caught immigration researchers by surprise and triggered a new generation of research on immigration control policies for the highly skilled. The research focuses primarily on the demand side of the equation. First, scholars ask how “skill” is defined and parse the distinctions states make in their definitions. Second, researchers evaluate how states select skilled migrants: through supply-driven systems that define a specific set of desirable characteristics (a “points” program) or via employer selection? Third, and relatedly, are point-based systems more effective in attracting high-skilled migrants? Fourth, do programs allow for temporary or permanent migration and, in the case of temporary programs, is there a bridge between temporary and permanent status? Fifth, what are the outcomes for the skilled migrants themselves and the host society? Finally, there is also attention to the determinants of state choices on skilled migration policy, including a focus on domestic political institutions as well as specific political actors. A distinctive dimension of the literature is mentioned here only briefly: that is, the impact of skilled migration on developing countries. This issue is addressed more fully in the Development and Migration section.

Highly Skilled Flows, Causes, and Consequences

The research on highly skilled migration has expanded rapidly. The initial research focused on whether highly skilled migration from countries of the Global South to the Global North was detrimental to the development of the Global South, a debate captured by the phrases “brain drain” and “brain gain.” The debate continues and the vocabulary of “brain circulation” takes into account the return of highly skilled migrants to their home countries. The debate evolved as countries of the Global North began to shut their doors to low-skilled migration while attempting to attract highly skilled migration, and another catch phrase was invented: “the global competition for talent.” As scholars produced empirical data sets that traced highly skilled migration (usually operationalized as a college degree), the determinants and impacts of highly skilled migration have come into focus. The research has now begun to incorporate gender analyses and high-skilled migration in the Global South. Salt 1997 provides one of the first overviews of the new flow of highly skilled workers, beginning in the 1990s, to the club of wealthy nations, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Koser and Salt 1997 points out that the openness to skilled migration is combined with policies that seek to reduce flows of low-skilled migrants. Iredale 2001 attributes highly skilled migration to trends in globalization and the internationalization of higher education, extracting national professional associations from control over access to national labor markets. Cornelius, et al. 2001 examines empirically highly skilled flows in the United States, focusing on the evolution of policy in the United States and evaluating the impact of these flows on countries of origin. Bhagwati and Hanson 2009 provides an overview of policies in wealthy Western democracies, extending the coverage beyond the United States. Kerr, et al. 2017 brings the picture up to date, arguing that highly skilled migration is responsive to agglomeration effects. Two articles focus on highly skilled migration in the Global South: Artuc, et al. 2014 presents new data sets that trace highly skilled migrants to non-OECD countries and finds that one third of all highly skilled migrants move to non-OECD countries. Berriane 2015 provides a case study of sub-Saharan students in Morocco. Kou, et al. 2015 and Kou, et al. 2017 employ a “life course” framework to trace highly skilled individuals in their decisions to migrate and embed their life experiences in the extended family and home/host country cultural contexts.

  • Artuc, Erhan, Frédéric Docquier, Çağlar Özden, and Christopher Parsons. “A Global Assessment of Human Capital Mobility: The Role of Non-OECD Destinations.” In Special Issue: Migration and Development. Edited by Hillel Rapoport, Michael Clemens, and Çağlar Özden. World Development 65 (2014): 6–26.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.04.004Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors present new data on highly skilled migration within the Global South, at two points in time: 1990 and 2000. They find that one third of highly skilled migration is to non-OECD destinations, and that OECD countries are declining in the proportion of highly skilled migration.

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  • Berriane, Johara. “Sub-Saharan Students in Morocco: Determinants, Everyday Life, and Future Plans of a High-Skilled Migrant Group.” In Special Issue: Revisiting Moroccan Migrations. Journal of North African Studies 20.4 (2015): 573–589.

    DOI: 10.1080/13629387.2015.1065042Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This is one of the few articles focusing on high-skilled migration within the Global South. It explores the population of sub-Saharan students in Morocco, examining the determinants of their movement and the impact on Morocco, as it shifts from a transit country to a destination country.

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  • Bhagwati, Jagdish, and Gordon Hanson, eds. Skilled Migration Today: Prospects, Problems and Policies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

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    This is one of several edited volumes on contemporary skilled migration that have been published in the early 21st century. As is the case with most of these volumes, the focus is predominantly on the United States with comparative chapters on other wealthy Western democracies.

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  • Cornelius, Wayne, Thomas J. Espenshade, and Idean Salehyan. eds. The International Migration of the Highly Skilled: Demand, Supply, and Development Consequences in Sending and Receiving Countries. San Diego, CA: Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, 2001.

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    This volume focuses primarily on highly skilled migration to the United States; it provides an overview of the US evolution of policy toward highly skilled migration and the political debates surrounding policy. The volume also includes three chapters on the home-country consequences of the “brain drain” to the United States.

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  • Iredale, Robyn. “The Migration of Professionals: Theories and Typologies.” In Special Issue 1. International Migration 39.5 (2001): 7–26.

    DOI: 10.1111/1468-2435.00169Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Iredale is an early observer of the most recent wave of highly skilled migration, placing it in the context of two earlier waves. He argues that the current wave is driven by the globalization of firms and the internationalization of higher education and that national professional bodies no longer control access to employment, as states and firms work to “fast track” national recognition of internationally acquired skills.

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  • Kerr, Sari Pekkala, William Kerr, and Çağlar Özden, et al. “High-Skilled Migration and Agglomeration.” Annual Review of Economics 9 (2017): 201–234.

    DOI: 10.1146/annurev-economics-063016-103705Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors bring together various streams of research on high-skilled migration based on the recent collection of data on migration flows, codification of national policies, and patent data. They argue that agglomeration economies are a significant determinant of high-skilled migration.

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  • Koser, Khalid, and John Salt. “The Geography of Highly Skilled International Migration.” International Journal of Population Geography 3.4 (1997): 285–303.

    DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1220(199712)3:4<285::AID-IJPG72>3.0.CO;2-WSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Koser and Salt place highly skilled migration in context by pointing out that wealthy Western democracies are open to highly skilled migration while maintaining a closed door to low-skilled migration. The article provides an overview of the research to date and sets a research agenda for the field.

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  • Kou, Anu, Clara H. Mulder, and Ajay Bailey. “‘For the Sake of the Family and Future’: The Linked Lives of Highly Skilled Indian Migrants.” In Special Issue: Highly Skilled Migration between the Global North and South: Gender, Life Courses and Institutions. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 43.16 (2017): 2788–2805.

    DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2017.1314608Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors employ a life course perspective and embed migration decisions within a broader network than the nuclear family. Based on forty-seven semi-structured interviews, they argue that a clearer understanding of migration decisions would be enhanced by considering cultural contexts and extended families.

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  • Kou, Anu, Leo van Wissen, Jouke van Dijk, and Ajay Bailey. “A Life Course Approach to High-Skilled Migration: Lived Experiences of Indians in the Netherlands.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 41.10 (2015): 1644–1663.

    DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2015.1019843Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors present the results of twenty-two in-depth interviews to highlight how the frame of “life course” informs our understanding of migration decisions.

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  • Salt, John. International Movements of the Highly Skilled. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1997.

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    Salt was one of the first scholars to recognize the distinctiveness of a new flow of migrants in a 1992 article. This pamphlet summarizes the state of knowledge for the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, the club of wealthy nations that were all beginning to recruit highly skilled migrants.

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Determinants of Highly Skilled Immigration Policy

Most of the research on highly skilled immigration is descriptive and focuses on the outcomes for the migrants, the host country, and the country of origin. This research assumes that the evolution of the global economy has created a demand for highly skilled migrants rather than exploring the variation among countries in their immigration policies. Duncan 2012 points to the diffusion of policies based on economic interdependence. Cerna 2014 describes greater variation in policy, which the author attributes to varying coalitions of national actors, highly skilled labor, low-skilled labor, and employers.

  • Cerna, Lucie. “Attracting High-Skilled Immigrants: Policies in Comparative Perspective.” International Migration 52.3 (2014): 69–84.

    DOI: 10.1111/imig.12158Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Cerna examines the determinants of states’ skilled immigration policy choices. She points to shifting coalitions between the native highly skilled workforce, the native low-skilled workforce, and employers as the primary determinants of policy choice. Evidence comes from France, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

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  • Duncan, Natasha T. Immigration Policymaking in the Global Era: In Pursuit of Global Talent. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

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    Explores the determinants of highly skilled immigration policy across wealthy Western democracies. The author argues that the “points system” that sets criteria for entry has diffused among states due to interdependence. The cases of the United Kingdom and Germany illuminate the argument.

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Impact of Highly Skilled Migration on Origin and Destination Countries

In addition to tracing flows of highly skilled migrants and the determinants of migration, scholars have been interested in the consequences of these flows on both origin and destination countries. Bhagwati 1979 takes the developing country perspective that highly skilled migration produces negative consequences for those left behind and proposes different types of taxes aimed at compensating the developing country for its losses. The author is but one of many scholars who take this perspective. The position is highly controversial and new evidence has been generated to evaluate the hypothesis. Boeri, et al. 2012 presents a more nuanced and detailed quantitative analysis of the impact of highly skilled migration flows on countries of origin as well as host countries. Docquier and Machado 2016 explores the impact of highly skilled migration on the global economy and concludes that higher levels would increase global wealth but that wages in poor countries would suffer. One of the channels for increasing global wealth is through innovation, and the role of highly skilled migrants in innovation is traced in Fink and Miguelez 2017 through patent applications. Grossmann and Stadelmann 2011 explores whether highly skilled migration generates greater between-state inequality. Velema 2012 describes the conditions under which the return of highly skilled migrants contributes to technology transfer and economic development. Martin 2012 demonstrates that policies that encourage the hiring of foreign science and technology personnel in the United States lead to a decline in the wages of the native workforce in science and technology.

  • Bhagwati, Jagdish N. “International Migration of the Highly Skilled: Economics, Ethics and Taxes.” Third World Quarterly 1.3 (1979): 17–30.

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    Bhagwati assumes that the loss of highly skilled migrants is detrimental to poor, developing states and discusses a number of taxation schemes that would compensate these countries for their losses.

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  • Boeri, Tito, Herbert Brücker, Frédéric Doquier, and Hillel Rapport. Brain Drain and Brain Gain: The Global Competition to Attract High Skilled Migrants. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

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    This volume provides the latest research on highly skilled migration from the perspective of both host and home countries, written by the most prominent economists in the field. It is informed by significant empirical analysis and also suggests policy implications of the empirical findings.

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  • Docquier, Frédéric, and Joel Machado. “Global Competition for Attracting Talents and the World Economy.” In Special Issue: International Migration and Inequality across Countries. Edited by Simone Bertoli and Frédéric Docquier. World Economy 39.4 (2016): 530–542.

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    The authors evaluate the impact of liberalizing international mobility of college-educated workers on the global economy. Similar to studies on liberalizing migration more generally, they find that the world would be wealthier if migration of the highly skilled increases. However, their simulation also finds that workers in the developing world would be poorer.

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  • Fink, Carsten, and Ernest Miguelez, eds. The International Mobility of Talent and Innovation: New Evidence and Policy Implications. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2017.

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    The chapters in this book explore the linkage between highly skilled migration and innovation through the empirical examination of patents.

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  • Grossmann, Volker, and David Stadelmann. “Does International Mobility of High-Skilled Workers Aggravate Between-Country Inequality?” In Special Issue: Symposium on Globalization and Brain Drain. Edited by Gordon Hanson and Hillel Rapoport. Journal of Development Economics 95.1 (2011): 88–94.

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    This article provides a cautionary note on the implications of high-skilled migration, finding that between country inequality increases to the benefit of the host economies.

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  • Martin, Philip. “High-Skilled Migrants: S&E Workers in the United States.” In Special Issue: The State of the Electorate: From Disagreement to Divisiveness in the American Polis. Edited by William J. Miller. American Behavioral Scientist 56.8 (2012): 1058–1079.

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    This article points out that there are more US citizens with science and engineering (S&E) degrees than there are jobs in science and engineering in the United States. US policies that facilitate the recruitment of foreign S&E workers limit the options for US workers.

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  • Velema, Thijs A. “The Contingent Nature of Brain Gain and Brain Circulation: Their Foreign Context and the Impact of Return Scientists on the Scientific Community in Their Country of Origin.” Scientometrics 93.3 (2012): 893–913.

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    The author addresses the brain drain/brain gain/brain circulation debate by providing evidence that the gains to the home country upon return are contingent not only on the context in the home country but also on the skills and networks established by the immigrants in their host country.

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Policy Choices and Policy Outcomes for Highly Skilled Immigrants

The early research on highly skilled immigrants was descriptive and focused on the outcomes for the migrants, the host country, and the country of origin. This research assumes that the evolution of the global economy created a demand for highly skilled migrants rather than exploring the variation among countries in their immigration policies. Newer research explores the variation in policy choices of host countries to attract highly skilled migrants. Duncan 2012 points to the diffusion of policies based on economic interdependence. Cerna 2014 describes greater variation in policy, which the author attributes to varying coalitions of national actors, highly skilled labor, low-skilled labor, and employers. The article follows with a book (Cerna 2016) on comparative highly skilled migration policy in several OECD countries. Boucher and Cerna 2014 summarizes the issues that scholars of highly skilled migration confront in a special edition of International Migration. Cerna 2013 explores the issues associated with highly skilled immigration in the European Union. Boyd 2014 examines the similarities and differences in highly skilled migration policy in Canada and the United States. Czaika and Parsons 2017 takes a quantitative approach and evaluates the impact of national policies on the ability to attract highly skilled migrants.

  • Boucher, Anna, and Lucie Cerna. “Current Policy Trends in Skilled Immigration Policy.” In Special Issue: Skilled Immigration Trends. International Migration 52.3 (2014): 21–25.

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    This introduction to a special issue on highly skilled migration provides a primer of the research questions in this field and the proposed answers. The focus is on the policies that states adopt vis-à-vis highly skilled migration

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  • Boyd, Monica. “Recruiting High Skill Labour in North America: Policies, Outcomes and Futures.” In Special Issue: Skilled Immigration Trends. Edited by Anna Boucher and Lucie Cerna. International Migration 2.3 (2014): 40–54.

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    Boyd provides a detailed empirical description of similarities and differences in highly skilled migration policies in Canada and the United States, looking at programs that recruit permanent residents as well as temporary labor. Both types of programs generate highly skilled migrants. Although highly skilled migration is usually defined by education level, skilled trades workers are also being recruited.

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  • Czaika, Mathias, and Christopher R. Parsons. “The Gravity of High-Skilled Migration Policies.” Demography 54.2 (2017): 603–630.

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    The authors present a new data set of annual bilateral data on labor flows of highly skilled immigrants for ten OECD countries. They analyze the impact of national policies on the ability to attract highly skilled migrants.

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  • Cerna, Lucie. “Understanding the Diversity of EU Migration Policy in Practice: The Implementation of the Blue Card Initiative.” In Special Issue: Migration, Mobility and Rights Regulation in the EU. Policy Studies 34.2 (2013): 180–200.

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    Cerna explores member state transposition of the European Union Blue Card Scheme for highly skilled third country nationals into national regulations. She finds substantial diversity in the policies adopted and analyzes both the sources and the outcomes of these variations.

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  • Cerna, Lucie. “Attracting High-Skilled Immigrants: Policies in Comparative Perspective.” International Migration 52.3 (2014): 69–84.

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    Cerna examines the determinants of states’ skilled immigration policy choices. She points to shifting coalitions between the native highly skilled workforce, the native low-skilled workforce, and employers as the primary determinants of policy choice. Evidence comes from France, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

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  • Cerna, Lucie. Immigration Policies and the Global Competition for Talent. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

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    Anyone interested in European policies on highly skilled migration, how to measure policies, and the determinants of policy choice must consult the research of Lucie Cerna. This book provides a broad overview, with a comparison to the United States.

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  • Duncan, Natasha T. Immigration Policymaking in the Global Era: In Pursuit of Global Talent. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

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    Duncan explores the determinants of highly skilled immigration policy across wealthy Western democracies. The author argues that the “points system” that sets criteria for entry has diffused among states due to interdependence. The cases of the United Kingdom and Germany illuminate the argument.

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Gendered Perspectives on Highly Skilled Migration

The initial research on highly skilled migration did not distinguish between genders. More recent research takes a closer look at female highly skilled migrants. Docquier, et al. 2009 provides a quantitative overview of the highly skilled migration flows, disaggregated by gender. Liversage 2009 explores the life trajectory of highly skilled female migrants when they migrated for reasons other than work and whether or not they are able to maintain their highly skilled status. Kofman 2014 points out the definitions and policies associated with highly skilled migration are gendered and that this is true for other markers of identity as well, such as race. Bailey and Mulder 2017 provides an overview of the most recent research published as a special journal issue.

  • Bailey, Ajay, and Clara H. Mulder. “Highly Skilled Migration between the Global North and South: Gender, Life Courses and Institutions.” In Special Issue: Highly Skilled Migration between the Global North and South: Gender, Life Courses and Institutions. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 43.16 (2017): 2689–2703.

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    This essay introduces issues addressed in the special issue. The contributions explore the relationships among gender, identity, and position in society; life course choices nested in both home and host societies; and the relationship between employers and national immigration policies in their search for global talent.

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  • Docquier, Frederic, Lindsay B. Lowell, and Abdeslam Marfouk. “A Gendered Assessment of Highly Skilled Emigration.” Population and Development Review 35.2 (2009): 297+.

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    These authors present empirical data on highly skilled migration for 195 source countries at two time points, 1990 and 2000, disaggregated by gender. Highly skilled women have become a larger share of immigration stock in OECD countries and emigrate at higher rates than men.

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  • Kofman, Eleonore. “Towards a Gendered Evaluation of (Highly) Skilled Immigration Policies in Europe.” International Migration 52.3 (2014): 116–128.

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    The author points out that the criteria developed to recruit highly skilled migrants are gendered in their definition and application. This is true of other intersectional differences, including race and age.

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  • Liversage, Anika. “Vital Conjunctures, Shifting Horizons: High-Skilled Female Immigrants Looking for Work.” Work, Employment and Society 23.1 (2009): 120–141.

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    This research draws on interviews with highly skilled women migrants who immigrated for reasons other than work. There are four possible trajectories: employment in field of expertise, employment through re-education, employment as cultural brokers, or returning home. Otherwise, women lose their status as highly skilled.

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Temporary Migration

The duration of voluntary international migration varies; thus, distinctions are made between permanent migration and temporary migration. The arbitrary but widely adopted definition of temporary migration is migration for less than one year. Temporary migrants are almost invariably viewed as labor migrants: that is, as members of the labor force. Dustmann and Goerlach 2016 provides an empirical overview of the breadth of temporary migration and presents a framework for understanding temporary migration decisions. The perspectives on temporary migration are mixed. Many tout temporary migration as a policy that permits migrants to earn higher wages and provide remittances, even if the stay abroad is short. Moreover, temporary migration allows host states to respond to labor market demand while placating their populations’ opposition to permanent migration. Both Ruhs 2005 and Hugo 2009 take this perspective, although they also recommend best practices to limit exploitation. However, as noncitizens, temporary migrants have also been viewed as vulnerable populations. Lenard and Straehle 2012, Strauss and McGrath 2017, and Rosewarne 2010 are concerned with migrant exploitation in temporary worker programs. In examining the consequences of temporary labor migration on the home country, Paul 2013 argues that temporary migrants are socialized in the host country so that norms acquired abroad may lead returning migrants toward bottom-up changes in the home state. Dustmann and Mestres 2010 examines the distinction between temporary and permanent migration on the level of remittances. Balaz, et al. 2004 points to the correlation between temporary and permanent migration in the case of Slovakian educated youth as a drag on economic growth in the home economy.

  • Balaz, Vladimír, Allan M. Williams, and Daniel Kollár. “Temporary versus Permanent Youth Brain Drain: Economic Implications.” International Migration 42.4 (2004): 3–34.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.0020-7985.2004.00293.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Slovakia provides a case to analyze the impact of temporary youth emigration on development of the home country. Large numbers of educated youths are leaving Slovakia, thereby reducing economic growth. However, return is unlikely as temporary migration turns into permanent migration.

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  • Dustmann, Christian, and Joseph-Simon Goerlach. “The Economics of Temporary Migrations.” Journal of Economic Literature 54.1 (2016): 98–136.

    DOI: 10.1257/jel.54.1.98Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article traces the extent of temporary migration and provides a general theoretical framework to model temporary migration decisions. The authors discuss the possible consequences of temporariness on both host and home countries.

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  • Dustmann, Christian, and Josep Mestres. “Remittances and Temporary Migration.” Journal of Development Economics 92.1 (2010): 62–70.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2008.12.002Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors analyze panel data on remittances and return plans. They show that changes in return plans are associated with large changes in remittance flows. Thus, temporary versus permanent migration plans affect remittance levels.

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  • Hugo, Graeme. “Best Practice in Temporary Labour for Development: A Perspective from Asia and the Pacific.” International Migration 47.5 (2009): 23–74.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2435.2009.00576.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Hugo extols the potential benefits of temporary migration, with attention to Asia and the Pacific. He points to barriers to the achievement of these goals, including highly restrictive attitudes of host countries toward low-skilled migration, even as high-skilled migration is encouraged. Best practices are encouraged.

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  • Lenard, Patti Tamara, and Christine Straehle. “Temporary Labour Migration, Global Redistribution, and Democratic Justice.” Politics, Philosophy and Economics 11.2 (2012): 206–230.

    DOI: 10.1177/1470594X10392338Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors posit that global justice advocates see temporary labor migration as an opportunity for the poor to increase their income. Host states view temporary labor as a policy that can simultaneously meet labor market demand while quieting opposition to permanent migration. But the authors argue that temporary labor migration programs are, in fact, unjust.

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  • Paul, Ruxandra. “Space, the Final Frontier of Political Socialisation Research: Geopolitical Contexts, Migration Resocialisation and Political Remittances.” In Growing into Politics: Contexts and Timing of Political Socialisation. Edited by Simone Abendschön, 183–216. Colchester, UK: ECPR, 2013.

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    The author develops a theory of “political remittances” whereby temporary migrants undergo political socialization through their interactions with various networks both within and between their receiving and sending states. Political socialization abroad can overwrite perspectives and behaviors acquired in the primary socialization phase.

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  • Rosewarne, Stuart. “Globalisation and the Commodification of Labour: Temporary Labour Migration.” Economic and Labour Relations Review 20.2 (2010): 99–110.

    DOI: 10.1177/103530461002000207Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Rosewarne argues that there has been a shift toward greater levels of temporary labor migration, a worrisome development given the limited protections provided to temporary immigrant labor. The author proposes a Marxist analysis to understand the role of temporary labor migration in the global economy.

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  • Ruhs, Martin. “The Potential of Temporary Migration Programmes in Future International Migration Policy.” International Labour Review 145.1–2 (2005): 7–36.

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    This article addresses the potential benefits of temporary migration programs from the perspective of the migrant, the host country, and the home country. Ruhs also identifies policies that would help all parties achieve these benefits.

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  • Strauss, Kendra, and Siobhan McGrath. “Temporary Migration, Precarious Employment and Unfree Labour Relations: Exploring the ‘Continuum of Exploitation’ in Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program.” Geoforum 78 (2017): 199–208.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2016.01.008Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors employ Canada’s temporary foreign workers’ program to explicate the exploitation of migrant labor through precarious employment, precarious legal status, and unfree labor relations.

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Family Migration

The research on family migration overlaps with the literature on women and migration but is distinctive because of its focus on the family unit, rather than on individuals within the family. It also overlaps with the integration literature but, again, focuses on the family unit rather than on individual migrants. An early article, Dumont 1976 specifies three dimensions implicated by family migration: the legal, economic, and social dimensions. This early research is important for understanding the changing perspective, from family reunification as a solution to integration in the host society to family reunification as a constraint on integration into the host society. Kofman 2004 provides an excellent overview of the questions addressed in the literature. The author presents several categories of family migration starting with family reunification, where a family travels to the host country to join the original migrant. Kofman lists many types of marriage migration: citizens who marry foreigners; migrants who import marriage partners from their home country; “mail order brides,” or women who are imported specifically to fill the marriage needs of the host country population, often in rural, depopulated areas; “forced marriages” where the individual (usually the woman) is forced to marry an individual from the home country or is forcibly imported to marry a migrant in the host country; and finally “sham marriages,” where the objective is to obtain a residence permit in the host state rather than consummate a life partnership. International adoptions comprise yet another category of family migration. Finally, families sometimes move together to a host country. Lahav 1997 makes the case that states retain considerable sovereignty over family migration despite recognition of family unity as a human right. Lahav’s empirical evidence points to the narrow definition of family in the European context: a single spouse and dependent, unmarried children under the age of eighteen (or sixteen). For the United States, however, Carr and Tienda 2013 provides an interesting estimate of the size of family migration, showing that the proportion of family members sponsored by immigrants rose between the early 1980s and the late 1990s, with the proportion of adults over fifty growing as well. Leinaweaver 2014 argues that international adoption should be seen as a form of family migration and, adopting an anthropological approach, suggests that the experience of the migrants (international adoptees) is “better understood as racialization.” The most recent work normalizes family migration as one of many types of migrant streams, with its own internal and external dynamics. di Belgiojoso, et al. 2018 examines the conditions under which families become reunited in the host country rather than remain in the country of origin. Bonjour and Schrover 2015 examines the role of media on family migration policy. When the media depict events as a “crisis” for the host society, public opinion is negative. When media depict events as “drama” and a personal tragedy for the individual migrant, public opinion is positive.

  • Bonjour, Saskia, and Marlou Schrover. “Public Debate and Policy-Making on Family Migration in the Netherlands, 1960–1995.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 41.9 (2015): 1475–1494.

    DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2015.1021588Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Bonjour and Schrover tie family migration to the broader research agenda on the determinants of public policy, through an examination of public opinion. Contrary to the received wisdom, they provide evidence that public opinion, at least as reflected in the media, is not necessarily negative. The main driver is the depiction of the event as a “crisis” in the host society, or as a “drama,” a tragedy for the individual migrant.

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  • Carr, Stacie, and Marta Tienda. “Family Sponsorship and Late-Age Immigration in Aging America: Revised and Expanded Estimates of Chained Migration.” Population Research and Policy Review 32.6 (2013): 825–849.

    DOI: 10.1007/s11113-013-9300-ySave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors evaluate the number of family migrants sponsored by existing migrants to the United States. They provide data that indicates that every 100 initiating immigrants admitted between 1996 and 2000 sponsored 345 family members and that the proportion of those over age fifty was 74 per 100, an increase over earlier cohorts.

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  • di Belgiojoso, Elisa Barbiano, and Laura Terzera. “Family Reunification: Who, When, and How? Family Trajectories among Migrants in Italy.” Demographic Research 38 (2018): 737–772.

    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2018.38.28Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article employs census data to examine the family structures of migrants in Italy. They conclude that the family, cultural and gender norms of the country of origin, and the “migration project” (plans for temporary or permanent migration) are critical for understanding family reunification.

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  • Dumont, W. A. “Family Migration and Family Reunion.” International Migration 14.1–2 (1976): 53–83.

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    The author briefly describes efforts to establish family reunification rights at least since the end of the Second World War. He organizes his presentation to address the availability of data and the legal, economic, and social dimensions of family reunification. He provides a brief but comprehensive survey of the knowledge to date.

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  • Kofman, Eleonore. “Family-Related Migration: A Critical Review of European Studies.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 30.2 (2004): 243–262.

    DOI: 10.1080/1369183042000200687Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Kofman argues that family migration has been ignored in the migration literature because of an emphasis on the individual migrant as primary actor. However, in wealthy Western democracies, family migration should not be overlooked, as it is the largest component of migratory flows in the contemporary period.

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  • Lahav, Gallya. “International versus National Constraints in Family-Reunification Migration Policy.” Global Governance 3.3 (1997): 349–372.

    DOI: 10.1163/19426720-00303010Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Lahav points out the tension between human rights that recognize the centrality of family unity and state sovereignty over admissions. She argues that international instruments reinforce state sovereignty and provides empirical evidence on the definition of the family in “Western” nuclear family terms as an example of the continuing ability of states to control immigration flows.

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  • Leinaweaver, Jessaca B. “The Quiet Migration Redux: International Adoption, Race and Difference.” Human Organization 73.1 (2014): 62–71.

    DOI: 10.17730/humo.73.1.f1x606xr745wnw4kSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Leinaweaver draws on demography as well as anthropology to frame the research on international adoption. International adoption became more visible after the Korean War, when efforts were made to adopt biracial children of US servicemen and Korean women. Since then, the ethnic or racial dimension has become pronounced and generates issues for adoptees and their families.

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Marriage Migration

A second strand of the literature focuses on transnational marriages and family reunification. In an early article, Lievens 1999 provides empirical research to point out that marriages to partners from the country of origin have not died out; both Turkish and Moroccan migrants in Belgium, men and women alike, continue to marry co-nationals. Several articles address European regulations governing marriage migration. De Hart 2017 emphasizes how European legislation challenges human dignity by scrutinizing and refusing some marriage partners from the country of origin. Mustasaari 2017 makes the same case for Nordic countries. Sabbe, et al. 2014 provides one logic for this intrusion of the state into the choice of marriage partners, the fear that young women from the migrants’ countries of origin are being forced into marriage.

  • de Hart, Betty. “The Europeanization of Love: The Marriage of Convenience in European Migration Law.” European Journal of Migration and Law 19.3 (2017): 281–306.

    DOI: 10.1163/15718166-12340010Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article emphasizes how national laws governing marriages of migrants extend beyond European law and challenge the migrant’s human dignity.

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  • Lievens, John. “Family-Forming Migration from Turkey and Morocco to Belgium: The Demand for Marriage Partners from the Countries of Origin.” International Migration Review 33.3 (1999): 717–744.

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    Lievens provides a case study of the choice of marriage partners of Turks and Moroccans living in Belgium. The author shows that such practices are not dying out and that both men and women choose partners from their country of origin, often to satisfy “modern” goals.

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  • Mustasaari, Sanna. “Ruling on Belonging: Transnational Marriages in Nordic Immigration Laws.” Migration Letters 14.1 (2017): 25–37.

    DOI: 10.33182/ml.v14i1.313Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The article examines the impact of Nordic immigration laws on the ability of migrants to choose marriage partners from their countries of origin, laws which reflect ethnic, racial, or gendered stereotypes.

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  • Sabbe, Alexia, Marleen Temmerman, Eva Brems, and Els Leye. “Forced Marriage: An Analysis of Legislation and Political Measures in Europe.” Crime, Law and Social Change 62.2 (2014): 171–189.

    DOI: 10.1007/s10611-014-9534-6Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Forced marriage has risen on the policy agenda in Europe as migrants have chosen marriage partners for their offspring from the home country. The usual victim is perceived as the daughter of migrants raised in the host country. States have passed various legislation, including the twenty-one-year rule, to reduce the incidence of forced marriage.

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Minors as Migrants

Another strand of research on family migration focuses specifically on migrant children. Although a substantial body of research is available on children in terms of immigrant integration, this research agenda focuses on children in the migration process as well as the rise in unaccompanied minor migrants in the past few years. Children have usually migrated as members of a family unit and arrive with a parent or parents. The phenomenon of “unaccompanied minors” has grown in the past two decades and has elicited research on the treatment of this vulnerable population upon arrival. White, et al. 2011 sounds the call for research specifically focused on children as migrants, just as others were calling for gendered analyses of migration flows. Cardoso, et al. 2019 calls for research on unaccompanied migrant youth, while Amuedo-Dorantes and Puttitanun 2018 traces deportation hearing outcomes for undocumented youth. Linton, et al. 2018 describes the resources needed by unaccompanied minors and calls for additional resources.

  • Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina, and Thitima Puttitanun. “Undocumented Youth in Limbo: The Impact of America’s Immigration Enforcement Policy on Juvenile Deportations.” Journal of Population Economics 31.2 (2018): 597–626.

    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-017-0666-8Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors analyze data on juvenile deportation hearings between 2011 and 2014. They find that intensified immigration enforcement is associated with a 15 percent reduction in permission to stay. They conclude that the policy context (level of immigration enforcement) has an important impact in court rulings.

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  • Cardoso, Jodi Berger, Kalina Brabeck, Dennis Stinchcomb, et al. “Integration of Unaccompanied Migrant Youth in the United States: A Call for Research.” In Special Issue: Undocumented & Unaccompanied: Children of Migration in the European Union and the United States. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 45.2 (2019): 273–292.

    DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2017.1404261Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The United States Office of Refugee Resettlement has responsibility for the growing population of unaccompanied minors who are usually placed with a parent or other adult sponsor, but 90 percent do not receive formal post-release services that are necessary for this vulnerable population.

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  • Linton, Julie M., Elizabeth Kennedy, Alan Shapiro, and Marsha Griffin. “Unaccompanied Children Seeking Safe Haven: Providing Care and Supporting Well-Being of a Vulnerable Population.” In Special Issue: Unaccompanied Immigrant Children: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Needs and Responses. Edited by Thomas M. Crea, Benjamin J. Roth, Jayshree S. Jani, and Breanne Grace. Children and Youth Services Review 92 (2018): 122–132.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.03.043Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors point to the need for new policy to serve the unaccompanied minor population arriving in the United States. They disaggregate the care system into pre-migration, migration, detention, and post-release periods and employ case-based examples to develop policy recommendations.

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  • White, Allen, Caitríona Ní Laoire, Naomi Tyrrell, and Fina Carpena-Méndez. “Children’s Roles in Transnational Migration.” In Special Issue: Transnational Migration and Childhood. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 37.8 (2011): 1159–1170.

    DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2011.590635Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Just as researchers have complained about the absence of research on women migrants’ trajectories, this article points to the same issue with children migrants. The articles in this special issue address the experience of migrant children in various contexts.

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Migration and Transnational Families

Family structures are affected by migration. One component of the research agenda on family migration involves examining the impact of migration on family members left behind in the home country when one or more family members migrate. These family members may subsequently be reunited with the migrant either in the host country or when the migrant returns home or the family may remain transnational, with one or more family members living in two (or more) countries. Relationships are maintained through visits, financial flows, and, more recently, through inexpensive communications networks such as Skype or FaceTime. Research in the area examines the impact of migration on family members, especially children. Smith 2004 calls for the unshackling of research on family migration through the employment of both qualitative and quantitative methods. Abrego 2014 and Bonjour and Kraler 2015 represent research that specifically examines the role of family migration on integration. Abrego focuses on the Salvadoran community in the United States and the children left behind in El Salvador. Bonjour and Kraler summarize the findings of recent research and introduce a special issue on family migration on family integration in European countries. Newer research compares migrant families with appropriate comparison groups, in order to develop inferences about the impact of family structure on outcomes. Caarls, et al. 2018 explores the differences between transnational and non-transnational families with parents in Europe, noting that female-headed transnational families are more fragile than either male headed transnational families or families united in Europe. Mazzucato and Dito 2018 introduces a special issue on transnational families based on new survey data. DeWaard, et al. 2018 presents the findings from eight Latin American countries. Martin 2011 and Dreby 2012 explore the impact of deportation on families and children of state mechanisms that divide migrant families.

  • Abrego, Leisy J. Sacrificing Families: Navigating Laws, Labor and Love across Borders. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2014.

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    Abrego provides detailed ethnographic studies of Salvadoran families in the United States and the impact of that migration on the children left behind. Ironically, parents leave to provide a better education for their children, but their children see few incentives to remain in school, leading to disappointment on both sides.

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  • Bonjour, Saskia, and Albert Kraler. “Introduction: Family Migration as an Integration Issue? Policy Perspectives and Academic Insights.” Journal of Family Issues 36.11 (2015): 1407–1432.

    DOI: 10.1177/0192513X14557490Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors survey the recent literature on family migration, pointing out the shift in perspectives on family migration as a mechanism for integration to family migration as a constraint on integration into European societies. In introducing new research in this area, the paucity of empirical data on these relationships is emphasized.

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  • Caarls, Kim, Karlijn Haagsman, Elisabeth K. Kraus, and Valentina Mazzucato. “African Transnational Families: Cross-Country and Gendered Comparisons.” In Special Issue: Transnational Families: Cross-Country Comparative Perspectives. Population, Space and Place 24.7 (2018): Article Number: e2162.

    DOI: 10.1002/psp.2162Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The article studies the differences among transnational and non-transnational African families with parents living in Europe, with attention to differences between transnational fathers and transnational mothers. They find transnational mothers have “fragile families” and recommend policy support.

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  • DeWaard, Jack, Jenna Nobles, and Katharine M. Donato. “Migration and Parental Absence: A Comparative Assessment of Transnational Families in Latin America.” In Special Issue: Transnational Families: Cross-Country Comparative Perspectives. Population, Space and Place 24.7 (2018): e2166.

    DOI: 10.1002/psp.2166Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article reports findings of a survey covering eight Latin American countries and Puerto Rico. Comparisons are made between families divided by migration and by other causes (such as divorce). They provide some descriptive statistics but point to the need for additional data.

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  • Dreby, Joanna. “The Burden of Deportation on Children in Mexican Immigrant Families.” Journal of Marriage and Family 74.4 (2012): 829–845.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2012.00989.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author examines the impact of deportation on Mexican immigrant families, in light of the increase in US deportations. The conclusions are based on interviews with 91 parents and 110 children. The impact appears to be strongest on children, who subsequently live in fear about their family stability and legal status.

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  • Martin, Lauren. “The Geopolitics of Vulnerability: Children’s Legal Subjectivity, Immigrant Family Detention and US Immigration Law and Enforcement Policy.” Gender, Place and Culture 18.4 (2011): 477–498.

    DOI: 10.1080/0966369X.2011.583345Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author presents the details of the judicial decision from a court case filed to protect children’s rights at a “Family Residential Facility” for detained immigrant families. The author argues that the ruling relies on “geostrategic discourses” in ways that are detrimental to children’s rights.

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  • Mazzucato, Valentina, and Bilisuma B. Dito. “Transnational Families: Cross-Country Comparative Perspectives.” In Special Issue: Transnational Families: Cross-Country Comparative Perspectives. Population, Space and Place 24.7 (2018): e2165.

    DOI: 10.1002/psp.2165Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article provides an overview of the findings presented in the special issue based on new large-scale surveys of transnational families. The authors point to the importance of structural factors in the home and host society that affect transnational families and how these change over time.

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  • Smith, Darren P. “An ‘Untied’ Research Agenda for Family Migration: Loosening the ‘Shackles’ of the Past.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 30.2 (2004): 263–282.

    DOI: 10.1080/1369183042000200696Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author calls for a mixed methods approach to family migration with qualitative research that explores the agency of family members. A number of under-researched themes are enumerated.

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Women’s Migration

Policies and practices are not uniform across migrant groups. Disaggregating migration by gender allows for a more nuanced approach to explaining what motivates individuals to migrate, the effects of migration on women as compared to men, and the effects of gendered migration for others. This section begins with a review of the unique determinants for gender-specific migration. We then present research on migration policy differentiated by gender and the interdisciplinary work on gender-based migration. Finally, we review the role of gender in the relationship among migration, security, and political discourse. An early article on gendered migrations decisions, Behrman and Wolfe 1982 weighs the role of labor market incentives versus the availability of marriage partners. Within an economic framework, Morokvasic 1984 highlights the distinctive costs and benefits for would-be women migrants. Behavioral approaches acknowledge the relationships between men and women in marriage, households, and the economy but also emphasize gender segregation in labor markets and gender norms that influence mobility. Looking at family reunification policies, Kofman 1999 suggests that migrant women in Europe faced unequal access to resources and immigration policies. De Jong 2000 examines migration in Thailand to argue that women’s responsibilities for dependent care decrease the probability of migration. Boyle, et al. 2001 provides evidence that family migration decisions tend to benefit the male’s wage-earning potential while hurting that of female partners. The household strategies approach focuses upon the importance of reproduction (i.e., the processes involved in reproducing the labor force) in guiding gender-differentiated migration. Truong 1996 presents an early investigation into the role of female migrants as reproductive laborers in the trans-border transfer of labor. Maher 2004 contends that female “reproductive” migrants take up household work so that women in the host country may better access social rights and political engagement. Looking at onward migration in Italy, Ortensi and Barbiano di Belgiojoso 2018 finds that female unemployment status positively correlates with the intention of onward migration, indicating women can use migration as a tool to increase opportunity. On the return migration side, Duda-Mikulin 2018 finds that Polish migrant women face structural constraints during the migration process; many returned home to provide care for family members who remained behind. Finally, new research in Ruyssen and Salomone 2018 finds that discrimination against women motivates a desire to emigrate.

  • Behrman, Jere, and Barbara Wolfe. Micro-determinants of Female Migration in a Developing Country: Are Labor Market Considerations or Marriage Market Considerations More Important? Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, Population Studies Center, 1982.

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    The authors use spatial economic variables common to neoclassical models to explain migration behavior and differentiate between men and women through the inclusion of the availability of marriage partners.

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  • Boyle, Paul, Thomas J. Cook, Keith Halfacree, and Darren Smith. “A Cross-National Comparison of the Impact of Family Migration on Women’s Employment Status.” Demography 38.2 (2001): 201–213.

    DOI: 10.1353/dem.2001.0012Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Using evidence from the United Kingdom and the United States, the authors find that family migration patterns tend to benefit the male while hurting the female’s wage-earning potential. Instead of comparing migrant males and females to non-migrant males and females independently, this study assesses couples migrating together.

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  • De Jong, Gordon F. “Expectations, Gender, and Norms in Migration Decision-Making.” Population Studies 54.3 (2000): 307–319.

    DOI: 10.1080/713779089Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Evaluating the intentions of Thai individuals to migrate for employment, the author finds that family responsibilities such as dependent care decrease the willingness for women to migrate in comparison to males.

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  • Duda-Mikulin, Eva A. “Should I Stay or Should I Go Now? Exploring Polish Women’s Returns ‘Home.’” International Migration 56.4 (2018): 140–153.

    DOI: 10.1111/imig.12420Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Using semi-structured interviews of thirty-two Polish individuals (sixteen living in the United Kingdom, and sixteen return migrants), the author provides information on the gendered process of return migration.

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  • Kofman, Eleonore. “Female ‘Birds of Passage a Decade Later: Gender and Immigration in the European Union.” International Migration Review 33.2 (1999): 269–299.

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    The author points out that academic literature characterizes women as dependent on males. In contrast, she provides evidence that some migratory patterns have been dominated by women, namely Filipino, Cape Verdian, and Peruvian. Women from these migratory flows traveled independently, contradicting the notion that women follow their families.

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  • Maher, Kristin Hill. “Globalized Social Reproduction: Women Migrants and the Citizenship Gap.” In People Out of Place: Globalization, Human Rights and the Citizenship Gap. Edited by Alison Brysk and Gershon Shafir, 131–152. London: Routledge, 2004.

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    The “trade in domestic workers” involves massive flows of female migrants from less developed states to more developed states and a new “international division of reproductive labor.” Migrant reproductive women take the “dirty work” so that the First World women they replace may access social rights and political engagement.

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  • Morokvasic, Mirjana. “Birds of Passage Are Also Women. . . .” International Migration Review 18.4 (1984): 886–907.

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    Within an economic framework, the author highlights the distinctive costs and benefits for would-be women migrants. Women may be further exploited as a consequence of migration in the form of low wages and lack of political rights, but women can gain independence, respect, and awareness that their conditions are not fated.

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  • Ortensi, Livia Elisa, and Elisa Barbiano di Belgiojoso. “Moving On? Gender, Education, and Citizenship as Key Factors Among Short‐Term Onward Migration Planners.” Population, Space and Place 24.5 (2018): e2135.

    DOI: 10.1002/psp.2135Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors examine the gender gap in onward migration and suggest that higher psychological and economic costs explain why female migrants choose to stay in their country of origin more often than their male counterparts.

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  • Ruyssen, Ilse, and Sara Salomone. “Female Migration: A Way Out of Discrimination?” Journal of Development Economics 130 (2018): 224–241.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2017.10.010Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The model leverages the new Gallup World Polls (GWP) data to assess the impact of gender discrimination on female migration behaviors. The analysis reveals that discrimination fuels a woman’s intention to emigrate. However, household characteristics such as income determine if such intentions transpose to action.

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  • Truong, Thanh-Dam. “Gender, International Migration and Social Reproduction: Implications for Theory, Policy, Research and Networking.” Asian and Pacific Migration Journal 5.1 (1996): 27–52.

    DOI: 10.1177/011719689600500103Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author develops an analytical framework to understand female migration as reproductive laborers in a cross-national transfer of labor. The case study of Japan is employed to demonstrate that globalized markets lead to the “social dumping” of unwanted work in reproduction to women from low-income countries.

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Interdisciplinary Approaches to Women and Migration

Research across disciplines in the social sciences has contributed toward explaining the relationship between gender and migration. Pedraza 1991 provides a review of the literature on the role of women in migration through examining various strands across disciplines. Boyd and Grieco 2003 incorporates gender into theories of migration and provides a review of scholarship on the topic. Curran, et al. 2006 is a review of the sociology literature on gender and migration. In surveying the interdisciplinary literature, Piper 2006 critiques the lack of theoretical explanation on gender and migration. Boucher 2007 raises questions of policy implications when examining the impact of preferences for skilled migration upon would-be female migrants. Lutz 2010 examines female migration policy through a social change perspective. Accordingly, migration and gender can be disaggregated to three different levels of analysis (the macro, the meso, and the micro) such that each level of analysis reveals a gendered social phenomena. Finally, Hondagneu-Sotelo 2017 reviews different linkages between gender and migration.

Gender and Security

Gender not only drives migration flows and patterns but also is subject to identity discourse and security in receiving states. Such discourses create strong identities that often serve to hinder immigration and assimilation policies among states and citizens. Furthermore, the insecurity of women is even more acute when considered in light of the negative discourse and lack of rights that too often accompany migrant populations in receiving states. In exploring the power of dialogue and security, Hansen 2000 argues the so-called Copenhagen school has woefully ignored the lack of voice in female migrants compared to that of men. Kofman, et al. 2013 contends that female migrants have moved from the periphery to the center of discourse, but not always in a positive light as perceived by natives. Freedman 2017 points out that women make up at least half of the migrants across the world. Yet, migrant women are continuously faced with restrictive migration policies, which, in turn, fuel insecurities about their legal status.

  • Freedman, Jane. Gender and Insecurity: Migrant Women in Europe. London: Routledge, 2017.

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    The book highlights the gendered consequences of restrictive migration policies across Europe and documents the mechanisms by which women overcome these obstacles. It should be noted, this book is an extension of the earlier 2003 version.

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  • Hansen, Lene. “The Little Mermaid’s Silent Security Dilemma and the Absence of Gender in the Copenhagen School.” Millennium: Journal of International Studies 29.2 (2000): 285–306.

    DOI: 10.1177/03058298000290020501Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Hansen criticizes the Copenhagen school of security for ignoring the lack of voice in female migrants. Even if speech were an instrument of security, such a focus presupposes that speech is possible but women may be unable to voice their insecurity.

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  • Kofman, Eleonore, Sawitri Saharso, and Elena Vacchelli. “Gendered Perspectives on Integration Discourses and Measures.” International Migration 53.4 (2013): 77–89.

    DOI: 10.1111/imig.12102Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Examines the discourse of immigration and gender in European states. Female migrants have moved from the periphery to the center of discourse but not necessarily in a positive light. Women have often been perceived as uneducated and backward migrants victimized by patriarchal societies.

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Environmental Migration: Definitions, Determinants, and Consequences

Some scholars place environmental migration in the category of forced migration, and the term environmental refugee has been employed to alert policymakers and the public to the severity of the issue. But the term environmental refugee has been highly controversial. The research in this area thus begins with the various definitions of environmental migration that take into account varying degrees of choice in the migratory decision as well as descriptions of the levels of environmentally induced migration. Recent research normalizes environmental factors as one of many drivers of migration, and places migration decisions within the household unit, in light of the economic, social, and political context. The decision to move is also affected by the prospects to mitigate environmental change and to build local resilience. The research has also become more policy oriented. One of the fastest growing areas of discussion is the ethical dimensions of environmental displacement and the degree to which states are able to cooperate on environmental migration. Finally, international relations scholars explore how climate-induced migration may contribute to conflict within and between states. In this first section, researchers attempt to define environmental migration and seek to quantify the level of environmental migration. Myers 2002 simply refers to all migrants with acute vulnerability to changes in the environment as “environmental refugees,” while Bates 2002 proposes a classification of environment-induced migrations as forced versus voluntary. Biermann and Boas 2010 demonstrates the dangers of incorrectly defining migrants due to environmental degradation. Ultimately, Mayer 2016 argues that climate change does not create a distinct category of “climate migrant.” Although the distinctiveness of environmental migration is dissipating, scholars continue to examine environmental migration empirically. Findley 1994 differentiates between temporary and permanent international migration and finds that drought induces temporary flows but not permanent resettlement. Reuveny and Moore 2009 conducts a cross-national analysis and finds that adverse climate change is a determinant of migration to developed countries. Instrumenting environmental degradation through decreases in crop yields, Feng, et al. 2010 finds emigration is positively correlated with changes to the domestic climate. Gemenne 2011 provides a meta-analysis of quantitative research and finds that no consensus exists of the impact of climate change on international migration. Epule, et al. 2014 presents data on sub-Saharan Africa. Barnett and Adger 2018 brings the analysis up to date with the most recent overview on the link between demography and the environment.

  • Barnett, Jon, and W. Neil Adger. “Mobile Worlds: Choice at the Intersection of Demographic and Environmental Change.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 43 (2018): 245–265.

    DOI: 10.1146/annurev-environ-102016-060952Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors review the newest research on the link between demography and environment—at the individual level in decision making and in aggregate flows of population—focusing on the interactions among the size, composition, and distribution of populations and exposure to environmental risks and burdens. They suggest a capabilities approach to promote sustainable solutions.

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  • Bates, Diane C. “Environmental Refugees? Classifying Human Migrations Caused by Environmental Change.” Population and Environment 23.5 (2002): 465–477.

    DOI: 10.1023/A:1015186001919Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Bates places environmental refugees between “forced” and “voluntary” migrants. She classifies environmental refugees as those who react to a sudden and severe degradation of their environment, environmental emigrants who are compelled to leave their homes, and environmental migrants who have a choice because of slow environmental degradation.

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  • Biermann, Frank, and Ingrid Boas. “Preparing for a Warmer World: Towards a Global Governance System to Protect Climate Refugees.” Global Environmental Politics 10.1 (2010): 60–88.

    DOI: 10.1162/glep.2010.10.1.60Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors summarize the disagreement over definitions for climate-induced migration among the academic community and argue against expanding the definition of refugees (under the 1951 Geneva, Switzerland, Convention on Refugees). The authors instead call for a new legal instrument tailored to the needs of environment-induced migration.

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  • Epule, Terence, Changhui Peng, and Laurent Lepage. “Environmental Refugees in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of Perspectives on the Trends, Causes, Challenges and Way Forward.” GeoJournal 80.1 (2014): 79–92.

    DOI: 10.1007/s10708-014-9528-zSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors present the state of knowledge of environmental refugees in sub-Saharan Africa based on a review of more than fifty peer-reviewed papers. Population dynamics intersect with droughts, vegetation degradation, and wars as determinants of population movement. The authors argue for better monitoring of movements to enhance resolution of the issues.

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  • Feng, Shuaizhang, Alan B. Krueger, and Michael Oppenheimer. “Linkages among Climate Change, Crop Yields and Mexico–US Cross-Border Migration.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107.32 (2010): 14257–14262.

    DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1002632107Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors instrument climate change through annual crop yields to assess the relationship between changes in the environment and international migration. They find that a 10 percent decrease in crop yield is predicted to increase Mexican migration to the United States by 2 percent. This suggests that international migration will increase with environmental degradation.

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  • Findley, Sally E. “Does Drought Increase Migration? A Study of Migration from Rural Mali during the 1983–1985 Drought.” International Migration Review 28.3 (1994): 539–553.

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    This case study investigates drought-induced migration in Mali to other African cities in the region and to cities in France. The author finds that permanent migration did not increase with the 1983–1985 drought nor was there any significant change in migration among men. However, circular migration increased.

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  • Gemenne, François. “Why the Numbers Don’t Add Up: A Review of Estimates and Predictions of People Displaced by Environmental Changes.” Global Environmental Change 21 (2011): S41–S49.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.09.005Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    While confirming that environmental changes induce migration, the author reviews the estimates of current and future migration arising from climate change. The author demonstrates the absence of a consensual estimate and suggests avenues to improve accuracy of the estimates of environmental migrants.

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  • Mayer, Benoit. The Concept of Climate Migration: Advocacy and Its Prospects. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2016.

    DOI: 10.4337/9781786431738Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author argues that although climate change does affect human mobility, it does not create a distinct class of “climate migrants,” nor does it generate unprecedented levels of migration. The book examines narratives associated with climate migration—humanitarian, migration, and climate change—and how these are employed to advocate for particular issues.

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  • Myers, Norman. “Environmental Refugees: A Growing Phenomenon of the 21st Century.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 357 (2002): 609–613.

    DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2001.0953Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Myers provides a description of the problem of “environmental refugees” and is cited for his attention to a growing trend of migration induced by environmental degradation. Compared to traditional refugees who flee their homes for political reasons, environmental refugees totaled nearly half of all annual refugee flows in 1995.

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  • Reuveny, Rafael, and Will H. Moore. “Does Environmental Degradation Influence Migration? Emigration to Developed Countries in the Late 1980s and 1990s.” Social Science Quarterly 90.3 (2009): 461–471.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00569.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors conduct a large-N statistical analysis of the emigration to fifteen developed countries between 1990 and 2000 due to climate change. Empirical results suggest that environmental degradation plays a statistically significant role in out-migration, pushing individuals to move to other countries.

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Determinants of Environmental Migration

Environmental change and degradation impose costs upon vulnerable populations. Early work examining the effects of environmental variation upon human migration was rooted in internal migration and treated the migrant as an economic agent whereby the environment was one of many inputs in a cost-benefit economic decision-making model. The literature expanded with the rising salience of climate change, and the dynamic nature of environmental change became a focus for explaining global migration patterns. Recent developments in the literature acknowledge that slow- and rapid-onset environmental change is one of many pressures that lead to migration decisions. However, these decisions cannot be understood without placing them in the social, economic, and political contexts of the potential migrant. Migration is seen as one adaptive strategy; building resilience at home is an alternative to migration. Models of environmental migration are now folded into more generic models of migration. Perch-Nielsen, et al. 2008 places environmental migration into the social, economic, and political context that both facilitates and constrains migration decisions. Raleigh 2011 models environmental pressures along with conflict and poverty as drivers of migration. Black, et al. 2011 presents environmental change as a component part of a broader migration theoretic framework drawn from the migration literature. Renaud, et al. 2011 employs the concept of socioecological systems to generate a decision theoretic framework for understanding environmental migration. Warner, et al. 2010 combines environment and migration in a single framework, nested in the social, economic, and political context. This represents the culmination of a synthetic approach to environmental migration within the context of the standard understandings of migration processes. Hunter, et al. 2015 summarizes the theoretical progression of environmentally induced migration to date.

  • Black, Richard W., Neil Adger, Nigel W. Arnell, Stefan Dercon, Andrew Geddes, and David Thomas. “The Effect of Environmental Change on Human Migration.” In Special Issue: Migration and Global Environmental Change: Review of Drivers of Migration. Edited by Richard W. Black, Nigel W. Arnell, and Stefan Dercon. Global Environmental Change: Human and Policy Dimensions 21.1 (2011): S3–S11.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.10.001Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article places the environment into a broader migration theoretic framework, as one of many drivers of migration. Environment migration is generated when the ecosystem no longer provides resources necessary for survival and by exposure to hazard. However, environmental forces and migration decisions are filtered through the local economic, political, social, and demographic context.

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  • Hunter, Lori M., Jessie K. Luna, and Rachel M. Norton. “Environmental Dimensions of Migration.” Annual Review of Sociology 41 (2015): 377–397.

    DOI: 10.1146/annurev-soc-073014-112223Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors provide an excellent overview of the growing body of research on environmental migration. They note that environmental change interacts with the household, economic, and political contexts. The authors also highlight that migration is but one adaptive strategy to deal with environmental change.

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  • Perch-Nielsen, Sabine L., Michelle B. Baettig, and Dieter Imboden. “Exploring the Link between Climate Change and Migration.” Climactic Change 91.3–4 (2008): 375–393.

    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-008-9416-ySave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors develop models of the link between climate change and migration; the two scenarios involve sea level rise and floods. They point out that the connection is not deterministic but depends on the local context.

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  • Raleigh, Clionadh. “The Search for Safety: The Effects of Conflict, Poverty and Ecological Influences on Migration in the Developing World.” In Special Issue: Migration and Global Environmental Change: Review of Drivers of Migration. Edited by Richard W. Black, Nigel W. Arnell, and Stefan Dercon. Global Environmental Change: Human and Policy Dimensions 21.1 (2011): S82–S93.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.08.008Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The author incorporates ecological instability as a driver of migration, in addition to conflict and poverty.

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  • Renaud, Fabrice G., Olivia Dun, Koko Warner, and Janos Bogardi. “A Decision Framework for Environmentally Induced Migration.” International Migration Supplement 1.49 (2011): e5–e29.

    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2435.2010.00678.xSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors propose to employ the concept of social-ecological systems to understand the complex relationship between environmental “stress” and migration through a decision framework.

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  • Warner, K., M. Hamza, A. Oliver-Smith, F. Renaud, and A. Julca. “Climate Change, Environmental Degradation and Migration.” Natural Hazards 55.3 (2010): 689–715.

    DOI: 10.1007/s11069-009-9419-7Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article is an important contribution that connects the research on environmental change to the research on migration. The authors emphasize that both issue dimensions are nested in economic, social and political contexts and they attempt to place the issues in a broader push-pull framework, acknowledging the continuous variability of all the factors in play.

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Policy-Oriented Research on Environmental Migration

Given the evolution of research on environmental migration, scholars are moving to address specific policy issues that arise. Geddes, et al. 2012 notes that as migrants move away from environments that are no longer hospitable to humans, they may be moving toward environmental risk as well. This is true for many migrants in the Global South as they move from environmentally degraded rural areas to urban locations. They also note that individuals with limited resources may, in fact, be unable to move and are hence “trapped.” These individuals may also be “trapped” by state policies controlling migration (Adger, et al. 2015). Sakdapolrak, et al. 2016 argues that migration as adaptation is not the only solution; “translocal social resilience” provides a strategy that incorporates both movement and building local resilience. Tafere 2018 and Hu, et al. 2018 both point out that population movements may themselves generate environmental change and degradation. Finally, Till, et al. 2018 presents a computational model of environmental migration that promises to provide policymakers with tools for better understanding migration flows and therefore for developing policy solutions.

  • Adger, W. Neil, Nigel W. Arnell, Richard Black, and Stefan Dercon. “Focus on Environmental Risks and Migration: Causes and Consequences.” Environmental Research Letters 10.6 (2015): Article Number 060201.

    DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/10/6/060201Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors examine the nexus between environmental change and migration and point out that the dominant flows from rural to urban areas generate new risks for the migrants. They also note that state policies controlling migration may lead to “trapped” populations.

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  • Geddes, Andrew, Neil W. Adger, Nigel W. Arnell, Richard Black, and David S. G. Thomas. “Migration, Environmental Change, and the ‘Challenges of Governance.’” Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 30.6 (2012): 951–967.

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