Theories of international labor migration: an overview

"Emigration pressures are primarily the result of increasing inequalities between countries which, in turn, are the result of factors internal to less developed countries and their relations with developed countries. Both micro (neoclassical) and macrostructural theories of migration are reviewed. It is argued that the neoclassical theory of migration is often unjustly criticized and is sufficiently robust to incorporate those structural considerations which are at the core of macrostructural theories. Moreover, the neoclassical theory, with slight modification, can incorporate the ¿new economics of migration.' The major empirical problem confronting models of international labor migration is that migration flows are constrained by immigration policy. This policy, in turn, is influenced by various special interest groups. The direction and form of migration flows is conditioned by contemporary and historical relationships between source and destination countries."