Repeat Migration and Remittances as Mechanisms for Wealth Inequality in 119 Communities From the Mexican Migration Project Data

Abstract

To evaluate the distributional impact of remittances in origin communities, prior research studied how migrants' selectivity by wealth varies with migration prevalence in the community or prior migration experience of the individual. This study considers both patterns, and examines selectivity separately in low and high prevalence communities and for first-time and repeat migrants. Based on data from 18,042 household heads in 119 Mexican communities from the Mexican Migration Project, the analyses show that (i) first-time migrants in low prevalence communities come from poor households, while repeat migrants in high prevalence communities belong to wealthy households, and (ii) higher amounts of remittances reach wealthy households.These results suggest that repeat migration and remittances may be mechanisms for wealth accumulation in the study communities. Descriptive analyses associate these mechanisms with increasing wealth disparities between households with and without migrants, especially in high prevalence communities. The study, similar to prior findings, shows the importance of repeat migration trips, which, given sustained remittances, may amplify the wealth gap between migrants and non-migrants in migrant-sending communities. The study also qualifies prior findings by differentiating between low and high prevalence communities and observing a growing wealth gap only in the latter.

The Impact of Migration and Remittances on Wealth Accumulation and Distribution in Rural Thailand

“…Both patterns suggest that individuals or households may respond to social influences or resources from prior migrants or remitters as argued by the cumulative causation theory of migration (Massey 1990). An alternative explanation, which considers the lingering economic pressures that lead past behavior to be correlated with current decisions, has been discarded with longitudinal data from Nang Rong in other work (Garip andCurran 2011, Garip 2008). …”

“…Ample evidence from different settings established how remittances help migrants establish small businesses in origin (Funkhouser 1992;Woodruff and Zenteno 2007), afford better education for their children (Edwards and Ureta 2003;Yang 2008) and accumulate wealth (Garip 2012;Greenwood 1985;Taylor 1992;Taylor and Wyatt 1996).…”

“…Several studies found that remittance flows decreased income or wealth inequalities (Adams 1992;Taylor 1992;Taylor et al 2009), while others observed the opposite pattern (Mora 2005). Recent work attempted to reconcile these patterns by showing how the impact of remittances on inequality depends on the cost (Ebeke and Le Goff 2011) or level of migration (Garip 2012;Koechlin and Leon 2007;McKenzie and Rapoport 2007).…”

“…This study builds on the recent body of work that has employed micro-level survey data to investigate the impact of migration and remittance flows in origin communities (Garip 2012;McKenzie and Rapoport 2007), but takes a mixed-methods approach in an internal migration setting. The study first uses qualitative data obtained from focus group discussions with migrants, migrant-sending household members and village leaders in 8 rural villages in Nang Rong, a relatively poor district and a major supplier of migrants to urban regions in Thailand.…”

Cross-border Ties as Sources of Risk and Resilience

“…As applied to migrants and their family members, transnational scholarship has drawn attention to the “dual lives” of those who engage with communities and countries of origin, even as they undergo processes of integration within the host country (Levitt and Jaworsky 2007; Portes and Rumbaut 2014; Smith 2006). The broader literature on transnationalism includes wide-ranging areas of inquiry related to the influence of several factors—migrant capital, organizations (e.g., hometown associations), and social and cultural changes—on the political, economic, religious, and health-related landscape of communities of origin, as well as on the integration of migrants themselves within host communities (Creighton et al 2011; Garip 2012; Levitt and Jaworsky 2007; Portes 2007; Portes and Rumbaut 2014). …”