An Analysis of Interstate Migration in Mexico : Impact of Origin and Destination States on Migration Patterns

This paper examines two theories of interstate migration in Mexico as explanations of interstate migration patterns: (1) a comparative economic opportunity thesis and (2) economic segmentation (or dual economy) model. The economic opportunity thesis argues that factors such as employment opportunities and salaries arc major considerations in any decision to move. Thus, internal migration is held to he an important way by which workers respond to changing economic opportunities and thereby redirect the spatial allocation of labor toward a more optimal pattern. The economic opportunity thesis, thus, assumes that rural-urban migration is primarily caused by higher paying jobs in urban sectors and shifts the analytical scope onto pull factors affecting rural exodus.The economic segmentation thesis, on the other hand, contains two components. First, micro-social factors (i.e., opportunities and salaries) do not determine the pattern of internal migration but, rather, a dual economy based on differential organizational development is the major determinant of migration patterns. By creating both labor market and economic opportunities, laborers are spatially allocated to meet the changing economic organizational structure. Second, the model also points out the importance of analyzing structural factors at both origin and destination of interstate migrants. While pull factor influence urban migration, structural factors in sending states also may affect urban exodus as well, i.e., organizational development, job availability, and the distribution of occupational reward structures. In general, the economic segmentation theory analyzes how the intrusion and penetration of modern capitalist social relations into the countryside triggers waves of rural migrants to receiving states in spite of the fact that there arc few opportunities (such as jobs and housing). The theoretical tenets of the economic opportunity and economic segmentation theses arc explored more fully in the next section