Skip Navigation


Journal of Economic Geography Advance Access originally published online on January 7, 2005
Journal of Economic Geography 2005 5(1):43-57; doi:10.1093/jnlecg/lbh053
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
5/1/43    most recent
lbh053v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kanbur, R.
Right arrow Articles by Rapoport, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Related Collections
Right arrow F22 - International Migration
Right arrow J24 - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational [...]
Right arrow O15 - Human Resources; Human Development; [...]
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


Journal of Economic Geography, Vol. 5, No. 1, © Oxford University Press 2005; all rights reserved.

Migration selectivity and the evolution of spatial inequality

Ravi Kanbur* and Hillel Rapoport**

* Department of Economics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853–7801, USA
** Department of Economics, Bar-Ilan University, 52900 Ramat Gan, Israel; CADRE, University of Lille II; and SCID, Stanford University. email <hillel{at}mail.biu.ac.il>

Abstract

Standard models of labor migration suggest that migration is induced by real income differentials across locations and will, ceteris paribus, serve to reduce those differentials. And yet there is evidence that growing spatial inequality may co-exist with increased migration from poorer to richer areas, at least over certain ranges. At a theoretical level, this raises the question of modeling opposing forces, for convergence and divergence, in a common framework, and identifying the precise conditions under which the tendency for convergence dominates, or is dominated by, the forces for divergence. A conventional route to introducing forces for divergence is to bring agglomeration effects into the standard setup. This paper explores an alternative route, based on a theoretical and empirical proposition of the migration literature, namely, that migration is a selective process. Focusing on skilled migration, the paper demonstrates the different forces in play that make selective migration a force for both divergence and convergence, and characterizes where each set of forces dominates. Finally, it explores the consequences for convergence of combining migration selectivity and agglomeration effects arising from migrant networks.

Keywords: Migration, migration selectivity, migrants' networks, human capital formation, spatial inequality, convergence,
JEL classifications: F22, J24, O15
Date submitted: 1 September 2003     Date accepted: 1 June 2004


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.