Determinants of migration: the role of social and trade policies

Thesis

The main aim of this thesis is to investigate the role of social and trade policies as determinants of migration. The thesis has four core independent chapters that aim to address five major challenges in migration and development research: the effect of non-migration policies, the interplay and dichotomy of internal and international migration, the challenge in conducting impact evaluation of policies on migration, the bridging of structure and agency in migration research, and the way to approach explanatory complexity in migration determinants research. The contribution of this thesis falls mainly in explaining the determinants of South-North and internal migration.

On social policy, this thesis finds overwhelming evidence on the robust role of welfare services and programs in origin countries through risk-diversification and relative-redistribution channels. I propose a term called reverse magnet hypothesis and provide the identification strategy to test its robustness. One finding is that the scope and type of welfare programs influence migration decision through the behavioural influence it provides through the relaxation of financial constraints.

On trade policy, this thesis finds no migration theory can individually explain global migration. Instead, I find evidence of multiple pathways and combination of different migration theories that serve as causal conditions for total migration and high-skilled migration. This thesis finds that capital linkages play a focal role in migration. It also finds a counterfactual evidence of migration hump, which indicates that the relationships between capital, trade, and migration flows are indeed dynamic.

This thesis shows that methodological and theoretical pluralism enrich explanations on migration determinants. Also, the role of origin country determinants should no longer be neglected nor underutilised in migration determinants literature.

Authors: Mahendra, E

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-xkzdm9z1x
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Social Policy; Migration Determinants; Trade Policy
• Subjects: Migration Studies; International Development