Determinants of the Choice of Migration Destination

Marcel Fafchamps and Forhad Shilpi

No 7407, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: This paper examines migrants' choice of destination conditional on migration. To this end, we design an empirical strategy which remedies both migration selection and unobserved heterogeneity problems. The study uses data from two rounds of Nepal Living Standard Surveys and a Population Census and examine how the choice of a migration destination is influenced by income differentials and other covariates. We find distance, population density, and social proximity to have a strong significant effect: migrants move primarily to proximate, high population density areas where many people share their language and ethnic background. Better access to amenities is significant as well. Differentials in average income across districts are significant in univariate comparisons but not once we control for other covariates. Differentials in consumption expenditures are statistically significant but smaller in magnitude than other determinants. It is differentials in absolute, not relative, consumption that seem to matter most to work migrants. Except for the latter, results are robust to different specifications and datasets.

Keywords: Migration; South asia; Income differentials (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J61 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mig and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Determinants of the Choice of Migration Destination (2013)
Working Paper: Determinants of the Choice of Migration Destination (2010)
Working Paper: Determinants of the Choice of Migration Destination (2009)
Working Paper: Determinants of choice of migration destination (2008)
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