The ‘migration-development’ nexus has emerged as an important area of both research and policy over the last ten years. However, most of the interest has focused on the potential that migration holds for poverty alleviation. Relatively little attention has been paid to the relationship between migration and inequality, particularly on inequality as a consequence of migration. This is unfortunate, given that inequality is emerging as an important area of inquiry within development studies. This edited collection explores the relationship between migration and inequality in Africa, Asia and Latin America by taking into account economic and social inequalities. While the focus on inequality as opposed to poverty is in itself original, the book offers additional points of interest. First, it combines chapters on internal and international migration, thereby challenging the current focus in the migration literature that focuses almost exclusively on cross-border migration. Internal migration greatly outnumbers cross-border moves. Yet policy-makers as well as most studies focus on cross-border international migration. We are only just beginning to unravel the relationship between internal and cross-border migration. Second, the theme of inequality complements the existing focus in the migration-development nexus on issues of poverty. Third, the chapters focus on both economic and social inequalities, often combining an analysis of different types of inequalities. The book also covers governance and migrants’ rights; gender and intersectionality; and health. The chapters in this edited volume make an original contribution to debates on the migration-development nexus as well as the literature on inequality, which often tends to focus on economic measurements of inequality at the expense of including a thorough analysis of social inequality.

This open access handbook examines the phenomenon of South-South migration and its relationship to inequality in the Global South, where at least a third of all international migration takes place. Drawing on contributions from nearly 70 leading migration scholars, mainly from the Global South, the handbook challenges dominant conceptualisations of migration, offering new perspectives and insights that can inform theoretical and policy understandings and unlock migration’s development potential. The handbook is divided into four parts, each highlighting often overlooked mobility patterns within and between regions of the Global South, as well as the inequalities faced by those who move. Key cross-cutting themes include gender, race, poverty and income inequality, migration decision making, intermediaries, remittances, technology, climate change, food security and migration governance. The handbook is an indispensable resource on South-South migration and inequality for academics, researchers, postgraduates and development practitioners.

Despite severe exogenous shocks, the macroeconomic program remained broadly on track, and several social indicators, particularly in the area of basic education, progressed. A variety of measures have been successfully implemented to improve the environment for private sector development, reduce the vulnerability of the rural sector, and strengthen public finance management. A more comprehensive framework for growth-enhancing policies should encompass the rural sector; foster the development of analytical links between budgets and results; and strengthen the role of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) as an integrative framework for sectoral policies.

This open access Regional Reader examines the dynamics and impacts of international migration within and from West Africa. The book presents key theoretical perspectives and empirical findings on historical trends, geographical patterns, drivers and socio-economic impacts of both voluntary and involuntary migration in West Africa, a region that is characterised by high level of mixed migration flows. The book is divided into three main parts: changing patterns and governance of migration, managing environmental and forced migration, and diaspora, transnationalism and development. The chapters raise key research questions and outline recommendations for improving migration governance, protecting migrants and harnessing the benefits of migration for socio-economic development for both countries of origin and destination of migrants. As such this Regional Reader provides an interesting read to students, academics, researchers, migration experts, development practitioners and policy makers.

Abstract: Large numbers of agricultural labor moved from the countryside to cities after the economic reforms in China. Migration and remittances play an important role in transforming the structure of rural household income. This paper examines the impact of rural-to-urban migration on rural poverty and inequality in the case of Hubei province using the data of a 2002 household survey. Since remittances are a potential substitute for farm income, the paper presents counterfactual scenarios of what rural income, poverty, and inequality would have been in the absence of migration. The results show that, by providing alternatives to households with lower marginal labor productivity in agriculture, migration leads to an increase in rural income. In contrast to many studies that suggest the increasing share of non-farm income in total income widens inequality, this paper offers support for the hypothesis that migration tends to have egalitarian effects on rural income for three reasons: (i) migration is rational self-selection - farmers with higher agricultural productivities choose to remain in local agricultural production while those with higher expected return in urban non-farm sectors migrate; (ii) poorer households facing binding constraints of land shortage are more likely to migrate; and (iii) the poorest poor benefit disproportionately from remittances.

Migration from and within Africa, just like migration elsewhere in the world, often generates anti-immigrant sentiment and ignites heated public debate about the migration policies of the destination countries. These countries include South Africa as well as others outside the continent. The countries of origin are also keen to minimize losses through "brain drain" and to capture resources such as remittances. Increasingly, international organizations and human rights advocates have stressed the need to protect the interests of migrants themselves. However, while the UNDP's 2009 Human Development Report talks of "win-win-win" solutions, in practice it is the perceived interests of destination countries that enjoy the greatest attention, while the rights of migrants themselves are afforded the least. Yet migration is not just an issue in itself: it also points to structural inequalities between countries and regions. Managing migration and protecting migrants is too limited an agenda. Activists and policymakers must also address these inequalities directly to ensure that people can pursue their fundamental human rights whether they move or stay. It is not enough to measure development only in terms of progress at the national level: development must also be measured in terms of reductions in the gross levels of inequality that now determine differential rights on the basis of accident of birth.

This report provides evidence of a fairly generalised increase in income inequality over the past two decades across OECD countries, but the timing, intensity and causes of the increase differ from what is typically suggested in the media.

International migration, the movement of people across international boundaries to improve economic opportunity, has enormous implications for growth and welfare in both origin and destination countries. An important benefit to developing countries is the receipt of remittances or transfers from income earned by overseas emigrants. Official data show that development countries' remittance receipts totaled 160 billion in 2004, more than twice the size of official aid. This year's edition of Global Economic Prospects focuses on remittances and migration. The bulk of the book covers remittances.