Mapping the development impacts of migration

Article

Despite considerable interest in the relationship between migration and development, there have been relatively few attempts to map the various development impacts that migration can have on a country. This paper presents a new framework for mapping these impacts, focusing particularly on developing countries that send migrants.

Despite considerable interest in the relationship between migration and development, there have been relatively few attempts to map the various development impacts that migration can have on a country. This paper presents a new framework for mapping these impacts, focusing particularly on developing countries that send migrants. Drawing on two closely related definitions of development (the capabilities approach and the sustainable livelihoods approach), the paper suggests that migration can shape social and economic development in eight dimensions: economic impacts, educational impacts, health impacts, gender impacts, wider social impacts, governance impacts, environmental sustainability and disaster relief.

The paper also lists more than 30 mechanisms through which impacts can occur and surveys the possible implications of each.

Related items

  1. One year in: the government is making decent down payments for the years ahead

    It’s fair to say it hasn’t been a straightforward first year for the government. 

  2. Britons back local leaders with fiscal firepower

    “Death and taxes,” they say, are life’s only certainties. But there’s a third - wherever taxes are controlled, power lies.

  3. Filling the funding gap: at what cost to Scotland’s public services?

    Last week the Scottish government published its delayed Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) which ‘provides the economic, funding and spending outlooks for the financial years 2025/26 to 2029/30’ and ‘the Government’s fiscal strategy to…