WP-24-2010: Migration transitions: a theoretical and empirical inquiry into the developmental drivers of international migration
By Hein de Haas
This paper aims to advance a conceptual framework on the developmental drivers of international migration processes and to provide an empirical test drawing on the global migrant origin database. Conventional ideas that development in origin countries will reduce international migration are ultimately based on “push-pull”, neoclassical and other equilibrium models which assume an inversely proportional relationship between absolute levels and relative differences of wealth and migration. By contrast, another group of theories postulate that development leads to generally increased levels of migration and that societies go through migration transitions characterised by an inverted U-shaped pattern of emigration.
