The Demographic Benefit Of International Migration : Hypothesis And Application To The Middle Eastern And North African Contexts

Abstract

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the view of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. Policy Research Working Papers are available online at http://econ.worldbank.org.

Does return migration influence fertility at home?

“…Mainly this is because they face similar economic incentives as natives do (such as a higher cost of living and/or women opting for careers instead of rearing children). It is also possible that migrants contribute to the transfer of these fertility norms back to their countries of origin [2]. Such transfers can occur as international migrants nowadays stay attached to their own countries by maintaining intense communication with the relatives and friends they leave behind.…”

“…The relationship between demographic factors and international migration is not one-way [2]. This is because, as international migrants encounter the fertility norms that prevail in the host country, they can transfer them back to their countries of origin.…”

“…And because migrants usually return home, this also implies that they take with them the new (and sometimes higher) fertility norms they encounter. There is a connection between changes in fertility and the amount of money migrants send back home [2]. Due to limited data, the latter is used as a proxy for the scale of emigration from countries, such as those from the Maghreb (the region of North Africa to the west of Egypt) and the Mashreq (the region from the western border of Egypt to the eastern border of Iraq).…”

Migration, health knowledge and teenage fertility: evidence from Mexico

“…In turn, they provide examples of behaviors that may be considered and copied by other family members at home. As much of the literature suggests (Fargues 2006;Beine et al 2013;Lindstrom and Munoz-Franco 2005), migrants' behavioral norms tend to converge to those of their host country. Through the process of living and working in the receiving country, migrants acquire information and become aware of alternative models of gender roles and family relationships that they may accept and adopt.…”

Emigration and democracy

“…4 Finally, emigration increases the home country's exposure to new political values and practices, be it directly, through contacts with return migrants and relatives abroad, or indirectly, through the broader scope of diaspora networks. Such networks have been shown to foster bilateral trade, investment and knowledge ‡ows (see Docquier and Rapoport, 2012, for a review of this literature) and to contribute to the transfer of fertility norms (Fargues, 2007, Beine, Docquier and Schi¤, 2013, Bertoli and Marchetta, 2013 and to the di¤usion of preferences for democracy.…”