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Family Migration Capital and Migration Intentions

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Abstract

Does a history of migration in the family influence one’s decision to move abroad? This paper argues that intergenerational transmission of ‘migration capital’ accumulated in the family is a significant determinant of current decisions to migrate. Using an ordered probit methodology to analyse data from a survey of 2161 respondents conducted in Latvia in 2007, we find support for our hypothesis: children of former migrants are more likely to migrate themselves, compared to people without family migration experience. The country of Latvia serves as an unusually instructive laboratory for our analysis due to the planned nature of its 1945–1991 immigration flows.

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Notes

  1. There currently does not exist an industry-standard definition of “first-, second-, and third generation migrant”. Here we define “first generation migrant” to refer to those who themselves migrated to a new country. “Second generation migrant” refers to the first generation born in the new country (i.e. one or both parents migrated). “Third generation migrant” refers to the second generation born in the new country (i.e. parents born in the host country, but at least one of grandparents migrated).

  2. Expression in parentheses added for clarity.

  3. See e.g. Lai (2010) for an examination (based on interviews) of how the economic downturn impacts older Chinese immigrants in Canada. Among the findings are that worry about the family’s quality of life is the most significant determinant of a person’s own perceived level of well-being.

  4. See e.g. Manski (1990) for a critical evaluation of the relation between stated intentions and actual behaviour.

  5. See e.g. Hondroyiannis (2010) for a macro level analysis of fertility rates.

  6. The share of non-citizens in Latvia diminished from 25% in 1994, when the status was introduced, to 16% in 2009 (Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia 2010). Non-citizens of Latvia are eligible for naturalization under the condition that a person must have lived in Latvia for at least 5 years and have a command of the Latvian language and knowledge of Latvian history and society.

  7. Information on the Marketing and Public Opinion Research Centre is available at the http://www.skds.lv/index.php?lng=lEng.

  8. Note that in theory they may also be fourth or higher degree generation immigrants.

  9. Recall that a relatively high proportion of this group of people came to Latvia as industrial specialists.

  10. Note that since the sum of the marginal probabilities of all four outcomes is equal to 0, the Russian speakers are also 2.1% points more likely to report “rather low” probability of emigration.

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Correspondence to Artjoms Ivlevs.

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Ivlevs, A., King, R.M. Family Migration Capital and Migration Intentions. J Fam Econ Iss 33, 118–129 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-011-9269-9

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