Human Capital, Market Imperfections, Poverty, and Migration. Evidence from Rural Albania

Etleva Spolaore and Johan Swinnen

Review of Business and Economic Literature, 2009, vol. LIV, issue 1, 22-45

Abstract: During transition, almost a quarter of the Albanian labour force migrated to EU countries.The vast majority migrated illegally and temporarily to work abroad. This paper analyzes the determinants of Albanian migration from rural areas based on a unique representative survey of rural households. The study confirms that those who migrated temporarily are mostly young, male, and single. Regional variations in migration reflect a combination of cultural and economic factors, including migration costs. However, we find that migrants do not come from the poorest rural households. Moreover, education has a positive, albeit non-linear, effect on the likelihood of migration. Migration is negatively related with household access to alternative income sources and reduced financial constraints but positively related with the presence and household’s access to migration networks. Policy implications are that aid programs and government initiatives to invest in rural infrastructure and rural education may have mixed effects on migration. A key policy target to reduce migration should be the creation of non-farm rural employment and rural households’ access to finance.

Keywords: Albania; migration; rural household (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 O52 P20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://lirias.kuleuven.be/bitstream/123456789/219 ... ty+and+Migration.pdf

Related works:
Journal Article: Human Capital, Market Imperfections, Poverty, and Migration. Evidence from Rural Albania (2009)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ete:revbec:20090102

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Review of Business and Economic Literature from KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Review of Business and Economic Literature Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by library EBIB ().