Income differentials and global migration in the contemporary world-economy

Abstract

Shifting the unit of analysis from the nation-state to the world as a whole fundamentally changes our understanding of migration. Elsewhere, the authors have argued that ascriptive criteria centered on national identity and citizenship have long served as a fundamental basis of inequality in the world. Here, they develop a model that seeks to identify the main forces driving migration across the world-economy. They test this model by drawing on an original cross-national dataset on population flows. This allows them to more precisely identify country- and region-specific patterns of outgoing and incoming migration, and to assess the relative weight of specific variables (e.g., wage differentials between countries, the extent of income inequality and social mobility in sending and receiving countries, civil war, famine, geopolitical location, and migration policy regimes) in explaining these patterns. Finally, the authors discuss the implications of their findings for a more productive understanding of global social stratification and mobility in the contemporary world-economy.

One foot on shore: An analysis of global millionaires' demand for U.S. investor visas

“…This led Young to conclude that “few [millionaires] actually move their primary residence away from where they built their careers” (Young, 2018, p. 98). Young's argument is consistent with research showing that income gaps are the most important factor driving international migration (Korzeniewicz & Albrecht, 2016; Massey & Espinosa, 1997). How do we reconcile the apparent contradiction between the “immobile millionaires” thesis and the soaring global demand for elite immigration visas?…”

Global Inequality in the Current Era

“…From a global point of view, migration represents an "effective strategy" for upward social mobility (Korzeniewicz & Moran, 2009). Korzeniewicz and Albrecht (2016) also observe that given the preponderance of the between-country component in global inequality, the huge disparities help to understand why migrants so enthusiastically decide to leave their positions in their original places and jobs and often move to even relatively lower positions at their destinations. Far from the conventional wisdom that international migration is a mere equalization of wages, from the global perspective it represents a means of social mobility that provides tools to some disadvantaged populations to react against global income inequality.…”