RESUMEN

In this paper we examine the circumstances and determinants of female migration between Mexico and the United States. Using data from the Mexican Migration Project, we considered the relative timing of males' and females' moves northward. We then estimated logit and probit models to study the determinants of male and female out-migration; among women we also estimated a multinomial logit model to uncover differences in the process of migration for work versus not for work. We found that women almost always followed other family members, either the husband or a parent; only a tiny minority initiated migration independently. Although males also are quite likely to be introduced to migration by a parent, nearly half of all male migrants left for the United States before or without a wife or a parent. Estimates of the determinants of migration suggested that males move for employment, whereas wives generally are motivated by family reasons. Daughters, however, display a greater propensity to move for work, and the determinants of their work-related moves closely resemble those of sons and fathers.

Asunto(s)

Emigración e Inmigración/estadística & datos numéricos , Americanos Mexicanos/estadística & datos numéricos , Motivación , Mujeres , Adolescente , Adulto , Factores de Edad , Empleo , Composición Familiar , Femenino , Humanos , Funciones de Verosimilitud , Masculino , Estado Civil , México/etnología , Persona de Mediana Edad , Factores Socioeconómicos , Estados Unidos

Asunto(s)

Emigración e Inmigración , Factores Socioeconómicos , Educación/economía , Educación/historia , Educación/legislación & jurisprudencia , Emigración e Inmigración/historia , Emigración e Inmigración/legislación & jurisprudencia , Historia del Siglo XX , Hombres , México/etnología , Migrantes/historia , Migrantes/legislación & jurisprudencia , Estados Unidos/etnología

RESUMEN

We examine the effect of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) on migrants' wages using data gathered in 39 Mexican communities and their U.S. destination areas. We examine changes in the determinants of wages before and after the passage of IRCA, as well as the effects of its massive legalization program. Migrants' wages deteriorated steadily between 1970 and 1995, but IRCA did not foment discrimination against Mexican workers per se. Rather, it appears to have encouraged greater discrimination against undocumented migrants, with employers passing the costs and risks of unauthorized hiring on to the workers. Although available data do not permit us to eliminate competing explanations entirely, limited controls suggest that the post-IRCA wage penalty against undocumented migrants did not stem from an expansion of the immigrant labor supply, an increase in the use of labor subcontracting, or a deterioration of the U.S. labor market.

Asunto(s)

Emigración e Inmigración/legislación & jurisprudencia , Emigración e Inmigración/estadística & datos numéricos , Americanos Mexicanos/estadística & datos numéricos , Salarios y Beneficios/estadística & datos numéricos , Adulto , Humanos , Análisis de los Mínimos Cuadrados , Masculino , México/etnología , Estados Unidos

RESUMEN

We specify a set of equations defining a dynamic model of international migration and estimate its parameters by using data specially collected in Mexico. We then used it to project the a hypothetical Mexican community population forward in time. Beginning with a stable population of 10,000 people, we project ahead 50 years under three different assumptions: no international migration; constant probabilities of in- and out-migration, and dynamic schedules of out- and in-migration that change as migratory experience accumulates. This exercise represents an attempt to model the self-feeding character of international migration noted by prior observers and theorists. Our model quantifies the mechanisms of cumulative causation predicted by social capital theory and illustrates the shortcomings of standard projection methodologies. The failure to model dynamically changing migration schedules yields a 5% overstatement of the projected size of the Mexican population after 50 years, an 11% understatement of the total number of U.S. migrants, a 15% understatement of the prevalence of U.S. migratory experience in the Mexican population, and an 85% understatement of the size of the Mexican population living in the United States.

Asunto(s)

Demografía , Emigración e Inmigración , Americanos Mexicanos , Crecimiento Demográfico , Humanos , México , Modelos Estadísticos , Estados Unidos

RESUMEN

PIP: "This article compares two sources of data on Mexico-U.S. migration, based on radically different methodologies: the Mexican Migration Project (Promig) and the National Survey of Population Dynamics (Enadid).... This comparative study shows that a micro-social design drawing on multiple community samples, such as Promig, can solve the methodological conflict between specificity and representativeness.... The authors' research also highlights the problem of selectivity and specificity entailed by traditional surveys such as Enadid as a result of restricting their samples to international residents in Mexico and attempting to explain such a complex, socioeconomic process using a limited number of variables." (EXCERPT)^ieng

Asunto(s)

Recolección de Datos , Métodos , Reproducibilidad de los Resultados , Proyectos de Investigación , Américas , Países Desarrollados , Países en Desarrollo , América Latina , México , América del Norte , Investigación , Muestreo , Estadística como Asunto , Estados Unidos

RESUMEN

"In this article a theoretical model is developed that views undocumented border crossing as a well-defined social process influenced by the quantity and quality of human and social capital that migrants bring with them to the border, and constrained by the intensity and nature of U.S. enforcement efforts. Detailed histories of border crossing from undocumented migrants originating in 34 Mexican communities are employed to estimate equations corresponding to this model.... As people gain experience in border crossing, they rely less on the assistance of others and more on abilities honed on earlier trips, thus substituting migration-specific human capital for general social capital.... On all trips, the intensity of the U.S. enforcement effort has little effect on the likelihood of arrest, but INS involvement in drug enforcement sharply lowers the odds of apprehension."

Asunto(s)

Economía , Emigración e Inmigración , Migrantes , Américas , Demografía , Países Desarrollados , Países en Desarrollo , Fuerza Laboral en Salud , América Latina , México , América del Norte , Población , Dinámica Poblacional , Estados Unidos

RESUMEN

"We replicate prior research into the determinants of English language proficiency among immigrants using a dataset that controls for potential biases stemming from selective emigration, omitted variables, and the mismeasurement of key constructs. In general, we reproduce the results of earlier work, leading us to conclude that despite inherent methodological problems, research based on cross-sectional censuses and surveys yields fundamentally accurate conclusions. In particular, we find unambiguous evidence that English proficiency rises with exposure to U.S. society, and we reaffirm earlier work showing a clear pattern of language assimilation among Mexican migrants to the United States."

Asunto(s)

Aculturación , Escolaridad , Emigración e Inmigración , Lenguaje , Reproducibilidad de los Resultados , Investigación , Américas , Comunicación , Demografía , Países Desarrollados , Países en Desarrollo , Economía , América Latina , México , América del Norte , Población , Dinámica Poblacional , Proyectos de Investigación , Cambio Social , Clase Social , Factores Socioeconómicos , Migrantes , Estados Unidos

RESUMEN

"Economic arguments, quantitative data, and ethnographic case studies are presented to counter popular misconceptions about international labor migration and its economic consequences in Mexico. The prevailing view is that Mexico-U.S. migration discourages autonomous economic growth within Mexico, at both the local and national levels, and that it promotes economic dependency. However, results estimated from a multiplier model suggest that the inflow of migradollars stimulates economic activity, both directly and indirectly, and that it leads to significantly higher levels of employment, investment, and income within specific communities and the nation as a whole. The annual arrival of around $2 billion migradollars generates economic activity that accounts for 10 percent of Mexico's output and 3 percent of its Gross Domestic Product."

Asunto(s)

Economía , Emigración e Inmigración , Migrantes , Américas , Demografía , Países en Desarrollo , América Latina , México , América del Norte , Población , Dinámica Poblacional

RESUMEN

The theoretical and empirical literature generally regards international migration as producing a cycle of dependency and stunted development in sending communities. Most migrants' earnings are spent on consumption; few funds are channeled into productive investment. We argue that this view is misleading because it ignores the conditions under which productive investment is likely to be possible and profitable. We analyze the determinants of migrants' savings and remittance decisions, using variables defined at the individual, household, community, and macroeconomic levels. We identify the conditions under which U.S. earnings are repatriated to Mexico as remittances and savings, and indicate the factors leading to their productive investment.

Asunto(s)

Migrantes/estadística & datos numéricos , Adulto , Toma de Decisiones , Humanos , México/etnología , Modelos Económicos , Condiciones Sociales , Factores Socioeconómicos , Estados Unidos

RESUMEN

Using a new source of data, we estimate the probability of apprehension among Mexican migrants attempting to cross into the United States without documents. Over the period 1965-1989 we found an average apprehension probability of .35, confirming earlier estimates. We then applied annual probabilities to estimate the gross volume of undocumented Mexican migration and adjusted these figures to derive estimates of the net undocumented inflow.

Asunto(s)

Emigración e Inmigración/legislación & jurisprudencia , Americanos Mexicanos/estadística & datos numéricos , Crecimiento Demográfico , Adulto , Niño , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , México/etnología , Probabilidad , Muestreo , Estados Unidos

RESUMEN

This study uses a new source of data to assess the degree to which the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) deterred undocumented migration from Mexico to the United States. Data were collected from migrants interviewed in seven Mexican communities during the winters of 1987 through 1989, as well as from out-migrants from those communities who subsequently located in the United States. We conduct time-series experiments that examine changes in migrants' behavior before and after passage of the IRCA in 1986. We estimate trends in the probability of taking a first illegal trip, the probability of repeat migration, the probability of apprehension by the Border Patrol, the probability of using a border smuggler, and the costs of illegal border crossing. In none of these analyses could we detect any evidence that IRCA has significantly deterred undocumented migration from Mexico.

Asunto(s)

Emigración e Inmigración/legislación & jurisprudencia , Factores de Edad , Emigración e Inmigración/estadística & datos numéricos , Emigración e Inmigración/tendencias , Empleo , Humanos , Solicitud de Empleo , Estudios Longitudinales , Masculino , México/etnología , Modelos Estadísticos , Control Social Formal , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , Estados Unidos

RESUMEN

"This article examines the extent to which undocumented status lowers wage rates among immigrants to the United States from four Mexican communities. Regression equations were estimated to determine the effect of legal status on wages independent of other demographic, social and economic variables, and special efforts were made to control for possible sample selection biases. Findings suggest that the data are relatively free from selectivity problems that have characterized earlier studies, and that legal status had no direct effect on wage rates earned by male migrants from the four communities. Legal status also had little effect on the kind of job that migrants take in the United States, but it does play an important indirect role in determining the length of time that migrants stay in that country. By reducing the duration of stay, illegal status lowers the amount of employer-specific capital accruing to undocumented migrants, and thereby lowers wage rates relative to legal migrants." Data are for 1982-1983.

Asunto(s)

Demografía , Emigración e Inmigración , Empleo , Fuerza Laboral en Salud , Renta , Reproducibilidad de los Resultados , Salarios y Beneficios , Factores Socioeconómicos , Estadística como Asunto , Migrantes , Américas , América Central , Países Desarrollados , Países en Desarrollo , Economía , América Latina , México , América del Norte , Población , Dinámica Poblacional , Investigación , Proyectos de Investigación , Estados Unidos

RESUMEN

Fertility estimates were calculated using own children data from the Mexican migrant town of Guadalupe, Michoacan. In this town, 75 percent of families have a member working in the United States, and wives are often regularly separated from their migrant husbands. Simulations by Menken (1979) and Bongaarts and Potter (1979) suggest that fertility among these women should be depressed. Our results confirmed this hypothesis, showing that the seasonal absence of migrant husbands disrupted both the level and timing of fertility. However, the effect was greater for legal than for illegal migrants, a pattern that stemmed from social factors as well as physical separation. A logistic regression analysis showed that reductions in birth probabilities are greater the longer a couple is separated, and that these reductions are in the range expected from prior simulations.

Asunto(s)

Fertilidad , Estaciones del Año , Migrantes , Adolescente , Adulto , Preescolar , Femenino , Humanos , Lactante , Masculino , Matrimonio , México , Persona de Mediana Edad , Probabilidad , Población Rural , Factores Socioeconómicos , Factores de Tiempo , Estados Unidos/etnología

RESUMEN

The authors examine "historical trends in U.S. bound migration from a rural Mexican town. The data consist of detailed migration histories collected for all town residents in 1978. From these histories, successive migrant cohorts were constructed for the period 1940-1978." Changes in the age and sex composition of migrants over time are analyzed

Asunto(s)

Estudios de Cohortes , Emigración e Inmigración , Américas , Demografía , Países Desarrollados , Países en Desarrollo , América Latina , México , América del Norte , Población , Dinámica Poblacional , Investigación , Estados Unidos

Asunto(s)

Emigración e Inmigración , Américas , Demografía , Países Desarrollados , Países en Desarrollo , América Latina , México , América del Norte , Población , Dinámica Poblacional , Estados Unidos