Migration, capitalism and inequality

James Hampshire

Chapter 33 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Business and Government, 2026, pp 185-190 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Global inequality and international migration are defining features of twenty-first-century capitalism. This entry examines the relationship between international migration and inequality, over time and across space, at different stages of capitalist development. It first outlines how migration has evolved through the history of capitalism, shaped by regional and national patterns of demand for migrant labour from the sixteenth century to the present. The entry then focuses on how contemporary migrations are shaped by global inequalities of income and wealth and explains why most migration is not from the poorest to the richest countries. A final section outlines how the immigration policies of rich capitalist democracies institutionalise and enforce global inequalities, before concluding with a discussion of economic stagnation and the increasingly contested politics of immigration.

Keywords: Migration; Immigration; Capitalism; Inequality; Globalisation; Governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035307777
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