Domestic and international migration from rural Mexico: Disaggregating the effects of network structure and composition

Abstract

This article explores the role of migrant networks in Mexican rural out-migration, focusing on how network composition influences rural-to-rural, rural-to-urban, and rural-to-international migration. Using data from rural Mexico, migration is considered in a multiple-choice context that allows for the possibility that rural Mexicans can migrate within Mexico, for agricultural and non-agricultural employment, as well as to the United States. The use of disaggregated measures of migrant networks highlights the complexity of network effects on migration decisions. When modelling the migration choice with aggregate measures, US migrant networks appear more important than migrant networks in Mexico. Once networks are disaggregated, however, certain types of migrant networks in Mexico become very important in the decision to migrate within the country. Further, the impact of migrant networks on the decision to migrate varies with the closeness of the bond: the closer the bond, the greater the impact on the migration decision.