Studies of labour migration currently abound in economics, both in the more theoretical branches of the discipline and in empirical research. Economists have always had an interest in analysing labour mobility and the determinants and consequences of location choices. In recent decades, labour migration has become a central feature of many macroeconomic models. It has also been studied in great detail in applied microeconomic analyses.

Traditionally, migration research in economics has centred on four key themes. First, thedeterminants of migrationhave been the focus of studies that analyse migration decision-making processes and secular trends and fluctuations in migration flows....

This chapter presents and critically evaluates the major tenets of three theories of international population movements commonly referred to as ‘historical-structural’. These are the segmented labour market theory, dependency theory and world-system theory. Also discussed is the gradual shift of these theories and their associated models from being exclusively economic to encompassing broader economic and political structural explanations.¹

The historical-structural theories of international migration were first formulated in the social sciences during the 1950s and 1960s in reaction to the models of migration then predominant – the rational choice model and the classical and new economy models – which explained...

This chapter looks at the relationship between social networks and international migration. It defines social networks and explains the relevance of the social networks approach to international migration. After outlining the main types of social networks involved in migration today, it discusses the heterogeneity of networks based on gender, ethnicity, race and generation. The chapter also reviews the impact on these networks of external forces and characteristics, especially immigration history and policies. The final section critiques the social networks approach and makes suggestions for future research.

Ties or connections between individuals that vary in strength, type and duration (Granovetter 1973;...

The transnational perspective has gained a remarkable foothold in migration studies. A wealth of studies have documented that migrants do not necessarily cut their ties with their country of origin. Instead, migrants may live their lives travelling back and forth across state borders (their papers permitting) and form sustained transnational relations with their country of origin. These activities and the current and potential impact of them have attracted growing attention from academics and policymakers alike.

This chapter introduces some of the key empirical, theoretical and methodological discussions in research on migrant transnationalism. Its objective is not to establish the extent...

This chapter presents, analyses and re-conceptualises two state-based principles traditionally identified in international law as the determinants of nationality rights. The first isjus sanguinis, meaning ‘right of blood’ or kinship, whereby nationality is transmitted by birth via the matrilineal or patrilineal side or both. The second isjus soli, or ‘right of soil’, which associates the right to citizenship with birth within the territory of a given state. Both concepts have Latin ancestry; they denote the manner by which citizenship is allocated within a state. A third variant of acquiring citizenship isjus domicili, or ‘right of residence’. Unlike...

The movement of people is a key aspect of social change in the contemporary world. Yet studies of migration still play a limited role in the general social theories that seek to provide a framework for analysing contemporary society. Much migration research today is driven not by scientific inquiry but by policy needs. In other words, research is initiated by policymakers and aimed at answering short-term administrative questions. A vicious circle is then perpetuated, in which social theorists see migration research as a second-rate and narrow field, which reduces their willingness to afford spatial mobility an important place in their...

This chapter examines the migration of labourers in post-war Europe, migrant labour both officially recruited labourers and those who arrived on their own. Following the Second World War, Western European countries began the reconstruction of their economies. For sectors where labour was in short supply, they recruited foreign workers from Southern Europe, primarily Italians. However, what began as recruitment on a small scale soon burgeoned into a new international labour migration that would last more than a quarter of a century. With some shrinkage in times of recession, this movement grew consistently in volume and came to include labourers from...

Corporate and industrial globalisation, alongside the transition to service economies in the West, has encouraged the movement of skilled migrants. Skilled migration is often assumed to be a win-win situation with economic benefits for both migrant and receiving country. Negative impacts have been discussed, but these pertain mainly to the risks of ‘brain drain’ in the sending society. Nonetheless, due to the current lack of data on skilled migration flows, we have an incomplete picture of the impacts of skilled migration on the receiving country.

This chapter discusses aspects central to the academic understanding of skilled migration in the European...

Environmental migration has received increased scholarly and policy attention in the last decade. Though environmental drivers have always played a role in migration movements, the number of natural disasters has seemed to be on the rise, and their severity appears to be worsening, possibly due to the first impacts of climate change. Research on environment-related migration flows in recent times has shed new light on the linkages between environmental changes and migration.

History shows numerous examples of migrations associated with environmental changes and disasters. In 1755, an earthquake destroyed most of Lisbon, inducing mass population displacements towards other parts of...

Are students who study abroad migrants? Ask them and they will probably say ‘no’. (Unless, perhaps, they are students of migration!) They see themselves as ‘international’ or ‘visiting’ students. Their own migratory experiences are far removed from the general perception of migrants as poor and marginalised workers. And yet, by the conventional definitions and statistical criteria of migration, such studentsaremigrants. They have crossed an international frontier and are living in another country, often with a different culture and language, for a significant period of time – perhaps six months, one year, three years or more. Their different lengths...

The irony of the above quote should not pass unnoticed. The couple interviewed had migrated to the Costa del Sol in order to ‘escape’ multicultural Britain. Yet their own immigration to Spain contributed to the transformation of the landscape and society there by mass tourism and retirement migration. Arthur and Jean felt unhappy about the way immigrants in Britain kept to their own customs and apparently renounced the ‘British way of life’. However, they seemed oblivious to the fact that they themselves had not ‘integrated’ – they spoke little Spanish, and all their friends were other British retirees.

Like hundreds...

Irregular immigration in Europe comes in many shapes and forms. It includes, for example, an international student who did not apply for an extension of his or her residence permit, an Australian backpacker working a temporary job to earn some money before travelling on, and an Eastern European domestic servant in a neighbour’s home. Irregular migrants are a mostly invisible group in our society, and it is safe to say that each European country has its share. Beyond the national implications, there is a pan-European dimension to irregular immigration due to the process of European integration, which has rendered European...

The European Union’s new constitutional framework, the ‘Treaty of Lisbon’, entered into force on 1 December 2009 after ten frustrating years of negotiation and debate. The Treaty makes deep and lasting changes to the way the EU operates and its approach to fundamental rights. Among the modifications introduced, the new legal framework has major consequences for immigration and asylum law and policy.

Fast on the heels of the Lisbon Treaty came the Stockholm Lisbon Treaty Programme, which sets out medium-term priorities for the EU in the area of freedom, security and justice. This is the policy field where immigration lies...

Most countries have a sizeable population of undocumented foreign residents. The United States alone harbours some 12 million resident foreigners (Passel 2007; Passel and Cohn 2008; Passel and Cohn 2009). Within Western Europe, an estimated 2.6 to 6 million foreign immigrants reside without legal status.¹ Even developed countries that have long enforced strict anti-immigration policies, such as Japan, increasingly acknowledge the existence of an undocumented population of migrants – and the increase in this population over time (Kadokura 2007). In fact, evidence suggests that the current world migratory situation is characterised by the rising significance of undocumented populations in most...