Category Archives: Migration

Terrace farming in Nepal, courtesy: Paribesh Pradhan

Land rights: Enabling people to move in Rural Mexico

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Landlessness and lack of access to land are often at the root of poverty and social exclusion. International aid agencies have provided considerable resources to improve land registration systems in many developing countries, with the common objective of reducing poverty. The main channels through which land rights reduce poverty is by encouraging investments in land and facilitating land rental transactions. Turns out there is one more channel that needs to be taken into consideration when studying the effects of land certification: migration.  

In a recent paper by Alain de Janvry, Kyle Emerick, Marco Gonzalez-Navarro, and Elisabeth Sadoulet (2012), the authors analyze the impact of property rights on migration in rural Mexico and show that land certification programs can also lead to increased outmigration from agrarian communities. Assessing the Mexico ejido land certification program which gave out ownership certificates to 3.6 million farmers between 1993-2006, the authors find that households that obtained land certificates were 28% more likely to have a migrant member. At the community level, certificates led to a 5% reduction in population, and the effects were larger in lower land quality environments. Certificates lead to sorting whereby larger famers stay and land-poor farmers leave, particularly in high productivity areas. Despite the outmigration, cultivated land was not reduced because of the program, which is consistent with gains in agricultural labor productivity.

Overall, the evidence shows land certification increases the efficiency of labor allocation across space by inducing low productivity farmers to migrate, while allowing higher productivity farmers to consolidate land. The impact of poverty and social exclusion of such a phenomenon is not clear, but this is something future studies could dig deeper into.

Lost and Found: Migration Dynamics

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The title is part of my favorite memory from the oikos Young Scholars Economics Academy in Geneva held from 19-24 August, 2012. A group of 15 doctoral and post-doctoral scholars and three faculty (representing 17 countries across five continents) came together to discuss different aspects of migration research. In between, we explored the multicultural city of Geneva – on foot, by boat, and by bus, ran around the fountains in front of the Palais des Nations, and even got lost going back to the hotel after dinner in old town (funny in retrospect, but I, as the Academy organizer, have to admit there was a moment of distress, which fortunately didn’t show in my face).

I see the experience of getting lost and found as a crucial element of the migration dynamics – leaving the familiar to explore the unknown carries with it both the risks of losing oneself as well as the thrill of finding oneself. While migrants can shape societies by affecting labor markets, culture, and environment, among others, these factors also influence migration patterns and the lives of migrants. The dynamics of migration are complex and much remains to be explored and understood. 

The 2nd oikos Young Scholars Economics Academy on “The Dynamics of Migration” provided an exceptional opportunity for migration researchers to share their work. Personally, the Academy was a great learning experience both in terms of the breadth and depth of the content and the organizational skills involved. As an oikos PhD Fellow, one of my major responsibilities this year was to organize the Academy. From choosing the theme to the location, from inviting the faculty to selecting the participants, and from organizing the outings to ensuring that no one gets lost, the fellow is responsible for shaping the Academy – its character ultimately lies in the hands of the participants.

We had fifteen outstanding scholars, chosen from a pool of over 85 applications from six continents. Each scholar had 20 minutes to present their work, after which they received in-depth feedback from two participants and three faculty, followed by an open discussion. The faculty included Katrina Burgess from The Fletcher School, Tufts University, Marcelo Olarreaga from University of Geneva, and Deepti Goel from Delhi School of Economics.

The presentations were categorized into six broad themes: 1) Migration and Environment, where scholars discussed climate-change induced migration, 2) Migration and Trade, where the presentation focused on the effect of trade liberalization on migration patterns, 3) Human Capital and Health, where the work touched on the effects of migration on educational and health choices of migrants,   4) Culture and Attitudes, where the papers examined the role of attitudes and socio-political events that can shape migration decisions, 5) Labor Markets and Welfare Effects, and 6) Remaining and Returning, where scholars analyzed the challenges migrants as well as their families ‘back home’ face as well as the institutional changes that can be a by-product of migration.

With an estimated 1 billion migrants in the world today of whom 214 million international migrants and 740 million internal migrants, as the World Health Organization estimates, migration is a global phenomenon that is and will continue shaping our world. The Academy was just one step towards the much needed journey of understanding this phenomenon.