Discovering Diverse Mechanisms of Migration
Discovering Diverse Mechanisms of Migration: The Mexico–US Stream 1970–2000
Scholars have identified diverse mechanisms that lead individuals to mi- grate. these mechanisms are analyzed in various migration theories devel- oped in multiple disciplines. in neoclassical economics, higher wages in the destination country propel the migration of individuals who expect to earn more there. in the new economics of migration, the uncertainty in the origin economy leads to migration by households or household members who face risks to domestic earnings. in cumulative causation theory, the growing web of social ties between countries of origin and destination fosters the migration of individuals who are connected to earlier migrants. in a series of seminal publications, massey et al. (1993, 1994, 1998) argued that the various causal configurations implied by different theories are not mutually exclusive. income-maximizing migrants can co-exist along- side migrants who seek to diversify risks or alongside those who join family or friends at the destination. massey and espinosa (1997) provided the first empirical application of this argument in the mexico–united States setting. associating each theory with a set of independent variables, the authors used regression analysis to compare which variables and theories best predict who migrates. this empirical approach, although commendable in combining vari- ous theories, did not fully reflect massey et al.’s (1993) conceptualization, since it treated theories as competing rather than complementary accounts of migration. the approach also did not consider the conditional nature of theories, that is, the fact that each theory applies to a specific group of indi- viduals under specific conditions. in more recent work, massey and taylor (2004: 383) critiqued their earlier approach (massey et al. 1998) for not being able to “state with any precision which theories were most important empirically in accounting for variations in the
Scholars have identified diverse mechanisms that lead individuals to mi- grate. these mechanisms are analyzed in various migration theories devel- oped in multiple disciplines. in neoclassical economics, higher wages in the destination country propel the migration of individuals who expect to earn more there. in the new economics of migration, the uncertainty in the origin economy leads to migration by households or household members who face risks to domestic earnings. in cumulative causation theory, the growing web of social ties between countries of origin and destination fosters the migration of individuals who are connected to earlier migrants. in a series of seminal publications, massey et al. (1993, 1994, 1998) argued that the various causal configurations implied by different theories are not mutually exclusive. income-maximizing migrants can co-exist along- side migrants who seek to diversify risks or alongside those who join family or friends at the destination. massey and espinosa (1997) provided the first empirical application of this argument in the mexico–united States setting. associating each theory with a set of independent variables, the authors used regression analysis to compare which variables and theories best predict who migrates. this empirical approach, although commendable in combining vari- ous theories, did not fully reflect massey et al.’s (1993) conceptualization, since it treated theories as competing rather than complementary accounts of migration. the approach also did not consider the conditional nature of theories, that is, the fact that each theory applies to a specific group of indi- viduals under specific conditions. in more recent work, massey and taylor (2004: 383) critiqued their earlier approach (massey et al. 1998) for not being able to “state with any precision which theories were most important empirically in accounting for variations in the