The Effect of Relative Income in the Dynamics of Migration: Evidence from the VHLSS Panel Data

Won Fy Lee

No 142096, Master's Theses and Plan B Papers from University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics

Abstract: This paper examines, within the Vietnamese context, the role of relative deprivation, as proposed by Stark (1984) and Stark and Taylor (1989, 1991), in the dynamics of internal migration. The conventional wisdom in the economics of migration literature, such as the model of Harris and Todaro (1970), holds that as the rural-urban income gap widens, the influx of migrants from rural to urban areas increases until equilibrium is reached. The absolute income gap is of the utmost importance in the decision-making process concerning migration in that model. On the other hand, Stark (1984) hypothesizes that household members undertake migration not necessarily to increase the household’s absolute income but rather to improve the household’s position (in terms of relative deprivation) with respect to a specific reference group.

Keywords: Community/Rural/Urban Development; Consumer/Household Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 59
Date: 2012-08
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/142096/files/Won_PlanB_Paper_FINAL.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
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:ags:umapmt:142096

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.142096

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Master's Theses and Plan B Papers from University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().