ta-daa! paper done.

Fight or flight: Migration and the Millennium Development Goals

In the discussion surrounding the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), the issue of migration plays a vital role. Migration is an important issue that both causes and is the result of poverty. On one hand, the issue of brain drain, the problem that many developing countries are facing in which educated locals relocate to obtain a greater standard of living, was mentioned extensively during the ATHGO DC Symposium. On the other hand, migration is a result of poverty when there are no opportunities available locally so people migrate in order to survive as seen during the late 1950s when millions of Chinese relocated during The Great Hunger although this is mostly limited to sub-Saharan countries in recent times. Migration itself is a nebulous term that refers to any kind of movement of individuals. Within developing countries, the migration trend alludes to a more specific direction – rural to urban, less developed to more developed and strife to peace – although there are exceptions. Given these conditions, there is a need to investigate the relationship between migration and the achievement of the MDGs, in particular MDG 1, the alleviation of poverty. If migration impedes the achievement of the MDGs, this paper will provide possible solutions and policies for governments to undertake in order to achieve the MDGs and promote universal equality.

According to Ronald Skeldon, migration from developing countries can be classified into two categories – poverty as the root cause of migration and migration as a result of poverty (71-72). The former refers to the absolute deprivation that forces individuals to search elsewhere for subsistence while the latter alludes to the feeling of being poor when an individual compares his or her standard of living with the standard of living elsewhere. It is also the latter migration that most economists are concerned with; voluntary migration is usually undertaken by the more educated and wealthy individuals within a community because of the high transfer costs involved – visas and the ability to acquire and respond to information regarding wealthier communities require literacy while transportation costs money – hence the notion of a brain drain. In addition, recruiters from wealthier communities seeking cheap labor would select the most able bodied and talented individuals further eroding the talent pool within a community (Skeldon 72).

The problem arises when there is a dearth of primary drivers within a community’s economy. Without wealthy individuals, consumption expenditure is lower within the economy dropping aggregate demand; without able-bodied workers, vital infrastructure such as buildings and public-access facilities cannot be built; without literate individuals, literacy rates cannot be improved; and without health workers, mortality and disease rates would skyrocket. Ghana, for example, has lost 60 per cent of the doctors trained in the 1980s and a total of about 60,000 highly skilled workers are reputed to have fled African economies during the last half of the 1980s (Harris 87). The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr Lee Jong-wook, has said that brain drain from Africa is severely limiting the ability of health workers to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic and achieve any substantial progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. It is obvious that without the expertise and knowledge that some individuals such as doctors bring to a community, the community is unable to function properly.

It should also be said that while poverty may affect migration rates, migration also has an impact on poverty. Empirical evidence demonstrates that an increase in international migration can be positively linked to a decline of people living in poverty (Adams). In China, studies suggest that households that send out internal migrants are able to increase the per capita income of those left behind by between 14 and 30 per cent (de Brauw 20). The real contribution to development depends on the extent of remittances sent by the migrants, on the skills they acquire whilst overseas and on whether they eventually return to their home country (Usher 17). According to the World Bank, global remittances increased by more than 20 per cent from 2001 to 2003, reaching an estimated US$ 93 billion in 2003; remittance is surpassed only by foreign direct investment in funds to developing countries (World Bank 185). Migrant communities abroad are not just a source of remittances. In addition to their financial engagement, diasporas can help foster innovation, trigger learning processes or facilitate the transfer of knowledge and technology to their countries of origin. This, however, is assuming that migrants continue to maintain ties to their home communities.

In dealing with migration and development issues, governments of both rich and poor countries should enact proactive policies that are utilitarian by bringing about the most benefit for all people. First and foremost, governments as well as individuals should understand that migration is as much an ethical issue as it is a political economy issue – the underlying theme that should be consistent in the intention of all policies is justice and equality for all. As such, policies that ban migration from certain countries or for certain professions, or restrict the mobile freedom of individuals are unethical at best and immoral at worst. Second, richer receiving communities should ensure that the recruitment of professionals from abroad is not detrimental to the sending community’s well-being. This can be done through co-operation with organizations like the United Nations Development Program. Third, greater emphasis should be put on building better infrastructure such as medical and educational facilities in communities with large numbers of migrating professionals. One of the reasons that professionals migrate is the absence of proper facilities for them to practice their skills. Fourth, in the aspect of migrated professionals, greater emphasis should be placed on maintaining ties with their home communities. More emphasis should be placed by sending communities to keep track of their members who have migrated. Fifth, to aid in smoothing the remittance processes, developed countries should ensure fair and stable exchange rates and low transaction costs for migrant workers. With these policies in place, migration can certainly assist developing countries in reaching the MDGs.

Works Cited

de Brauw, A, and J.E. Taylor and S. Rozelle . "Migration and incomes in source communities: a new economics of migration perspective from China." a paper produced in the Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis.a paper produced in the Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis. (2001)

Harris, Nigel. Thinking the Unthinkable: The Immigration Myth Exposed. London: I. B. Tauris, 2002.

Lee, Jong-wook. Address to the Fifty-third session of the WHO Regional Committee for. Johannesburg. 01 September 2003.

Page, John, and Richard Adams. "International migration, remittances, and poverty in developing countries." World Bank Research Working Paper (2003)

Ratha, Dilip. "Enhancing the Developmental Effect of Workers’ Remittances to ." In World Bank, Global Development Finance (2004): 169-173.

Skeltion, Ronald. "Migration and Poverty." Asia-Pacific Population Journal 17(2002): 67-82.

Usher, Erica. "The Millennium Development Goals and Migration." IOM Migration Research Series 20(2005): 1-48.