View/save PDF version of this document - La Strada International

2Internal and International Migrationand Development: Research and PolicyPerspectivesJosh DeWindDirector, Migration Program, Social Science Research CouncilJennifer HoldawayAssociate Director, Migration Program, Social Science Research CouncilOver the last half century, migration research and policy have focusedon internal and international migration separately. Attention to internalmigration has focused largely on rural–urban movements and processesof urbanization within developing countries and on movement betweenregional labor markets within industrialized countries. Such concerns havefor the most part been pursued with little or no connection to debates relatedto international migration, the study of which began to consolidate duringthe 1980s largely in response to policy debates over the increasing flow ofinternational migrants from countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.Although internal and international migrants are often motivated by similarforces and may be linked with one another, whether or not their movementtakes them across national borders has placed them under different spheresof national sovereignty and administrative governance, reinforcing theirseparation in scholarship as well as policymaking.Recognition of the contributions that migrants can make to economicdevelopment provides good reason to reconsider the separation betweeninternal and international migration research and policymaking. Part of thisinterest in migration and development has been stimulated by the substantialincrease over the past decade in the amount of funds that internationalmigrants remit to their home countries. The potential importance ofremittances has led researchers to reconsider more broadly how the typesof resources that migrants transfer home might be significantly relatedto various aspects of development in sending countries. While mostattention is being given to the use and impact of the remittances of migrantworkers, other research is also examining such issues as the balancebetween “brain drain” and “brain gain” resulting from the movement ofskilled and professional migrants; the investments made by diaspora-basedentrepreneurs in home country businesses; the economic implications ofrefugee flight and settlement; the stimulation of production and trade by15