Fears and Tears
Only one in seven of the world’s population have ever migrated, despite the enormous gains in income possible through international and internal movement. The author examines the evidence for different explanations given in the economics literature for this lack of movement and their implications for policy. Incorrect information about the gains to migrating, liquidity constraints that prevent poor people paying the costs of moving, and high costs of movement arising from both physical transportation costs and policy barriers all inhibit movement and offer scope for policy efforts to inform, provide credit, and lower moving costs. However, the economics literature has paid less attention to the fears people have when faced with the uncertainty of moving to a new place, and to the reasons behind the tears they shed when moving. While these tears reveal the attachment people have to particular places, this attachment is not fixed, but itself changes with migration experiences. Psychological factors such as a bias toward the status quo and the inability to picture what one is giving up by not migrating can result in people not moving, even when they would benefit from movement and are not constrained by finances or policy barriers from doing so. This suggests new avenues for policy interventions that can help individuals better visualize the opportunity costs of not moving, alleviate their uncertainties, and help shift their default behavior from not migrating.
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| Format: | Journal Article biblioteca |
| Language: | English en_US |
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Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank
2023-01-10
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| Subjects: | INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, INTERNAL MIGRATION, CONSTRAINTS ON MOVEMENT, UNCERTAINTY, STATUS QUO BIAS, |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099232102022440417/IDU1552a8a5117ce01478e1adea116cf5a0d74fb https://hdl.handle.net/10986/41268 |
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dig-okr-10986412682024-07-24T18:22:49Z Fears and Tears Should More People Be Moving within and from Developing Countries, and What Stops this Movement? McKenzie, David INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION INTERNAL MIGRATION CONSTRAINTS ON MOVEMENT UNCERTAINTY STATUS QUO BIAS Only one in seven of the world’s population have ever migrated, despite the enormous gains in income possible through international and internal movement. The author examines the evidence for different explanations given in the economics literature for this lack of movement and their implications for policy. Incorrect information about the gains to migrating, liquidity constraints that prevent poor people paying the costs of moving, and high costs of movement arising from both physical transportation costs and policy barriers all inhibit movement and offer scope for policy efforts to inform, provide credit, and lower moving costs. However, the economics literature has paid less attention to the fears people have when faced with the uncertainty of moving to a new place, and to the reasons behind the tears they shed when moving. While these tears reveal the attachment people have to particular places, this attachment is not fixed, but itself changes with migration experiences. Psychological factors such as a bias toward the status quo and the inability to picture what one is giving up by not migrating can result in people not moving, even when they would benefit from movement and are not constrained by finances or policy barriers from doing so. This suggests new avenues for policy interventions that can help individuals better visualize the opportunity costs of not moving, alleviate their uncertainties, and help shift their default behavior from not migrating. 2024-03-25T16:13:52Z 2024-03-25T16:13:52Z 2023-01-10 Journal Article http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099232102022440417/IDU1552a8a5117ce01478e1adea116cf5a0d74fb The World Bank Research Observer 0257-3032 (print) 1564-6971 (online) https://hdl.handle.net/10986/41268 English en_US World Bank Research Observer The World Bank Research Observer CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/ World Bank application/pdf text/plain Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank |
| institution |
Banco Mundial |
| collection |
DSpace |
| country |
Estados Unidos |
| countrycode |
US |
| component |
Bibliográfico |
| access |
En linea |
| databasecode |
dig-okr |
| tag |
biblioteca |
| region |
America del Norte |
| libraryname |
Biblioteca del Banco Mundial |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION INTERNAL MIGRATION CONSTRAINTS ON MOVEMENT UNCERTAINTY STATUS QUO BIAS INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION INTERNAL MIGRATION CONSTRAINTS ON MOVEMENT UNCERTAINTY STATUS QUO BIAS |
| spellingShingle |
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION INTERNAL MIGRATION CONSTRAINTS ON MOVEMENT UNCERTAINTY STATUS QUO BIAS INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION INTERNAL MIGRATION CONSTRAINTS ON MOVEMENT UNCERTAINTY STATUS QUO BIAS McKenzie, David Fears and Tears |
| description |
Only one in seven of the world’s
population have ever migrated, despite the enormous gains in
income possible through international and internal movement.
The author examines the evidence for different explanations
given in the economics literature for this lack of movement
and their implications for policy. Incorrect information
about the gains to migrating, liquidity constraints that
prevent poor people paying the costs of moving, and high
costs of movement arising from both physical transportation
costs and policy barriers all inhibit movement and offer
scope for policy efforts to inform, provide credit, and
lower moving costs. However, the economics literature has
paid less attention to the fears people have when faced with
the uncertainty of moving to a new place, and to the reasons
behind the tears they shed when moving. While these tears
reveal the attachment people have to particular places, this
attachment is not fixed, but itself changes with migration
experiences. Psychological factors such as a bias toward the
status quo and the inability to picture what one is giving
up by not migrating can result in people not moving, even
when they would benefit from movement and are not
constrained by finances or policy barriers from doing so.
This suggests new avenues for policy interventions that can
help individuals better visualize the opportunity costs of
not moving, alleviate their uncertainties, and help shift
their default behavior from not migrating. |
| format |
Journal Article |
| topic_facet |
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION INTERNAL MIGRATION CONSTRAINTS ON MOVEMENT UNCERTAINTY STATUS QUO BIAS |
| author |
McKenzie, David |
| author_facet |
McKenzie, David |
| author_sort |
McKenzie, David |
| title |
Fears and Tears |
| title_short |
Fears and Tears |
| title_full |
Fears and Tears |
| title_fullStr |
Fears and Tears |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Fears and Tears |
| title_sort |
fears and tears |
| publisher |
Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank |
| publishDate |
2023-01-10 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099232102022440417/IDU1552a8a5117ce01478e1adea116cf5a0d74fb https://hdl.handle.net/10986/41268 |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT mckenziedavid fearsandtears AT mckenziedavid shouldmorepeoplebemovingwithinandfromdevelopingcountriesandwhatstopsthismovement |
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