Outflow of Labor from Agriculture: A Framework for Analyzing Migration from Rural Areas

摘要

The paper examines the context and determinants of rural migration with particular emphasis on the interaction between demographic and agricultural-related variables. Since migration, a demographic phenomenon with both consumption and production overtones, tends to be a family rather than an individual decision, the family as a decision-making unit received special emphasis in the paper. The setting for migration is described by four sets of variables at the village level: (1) the level and pattern of labor utilization, (2) the level of agricultural technology, (3) the level and distribution of resources within the village, and (4) the extent of the village's integration into the outside world. Although the setting determines the volume of migration, the individual's propensity to migrate is influenced by the socio-economic position of the family and the type of family organization. To describe the causal relationships determining migration and to increase the policy relevance of the results, a two-level analysis of migration--at the village level and the household level--is provided.