Migrant social capital: effects of Thailands 1997 economic crisis and post-crisis recovery. Extended abstract.

Over the years Masseys theory of the cumulative causation of migration has continued to evolve. In relatively recent work he and his colleagues state "Causation is cumulative in the sense that each act of migration alters the social context within which subsequent migration decisions are made typically in ways that make additional movement more likely". There is some evidence of an association between cumulative causation and contextual factors. Massey has suggested six factors that contribute to cumulatively caused migration momentum but empirical evidence regarding the importance of these factors has been scattered at best. These six factors can be generalized into three domains: demographic economic and cultural. In this study we measure the presence composition and distribution of economic demographic and cultural factors and evaluating their influence on migration. Employing longitudinal data from Thailand we extend current knowledge of internal migration processes by analyzing changes in migration frequencies before during and after Thailands economic crisis of 1997. We replicate recent studies of cumulative causation by measuring frequency of trips duration of time away and level of network aggregation (village or household) to estimate a model of migration among men and women in Thailand during recent periods of national economic growth and recession. Building on our earlier work showing that migrant social capital differently affects mens and womens migration this study evaluates year and occupational sex segregation effects. Expected findings are that return migration of men and women to villages of origin increased during the economic crisis. Although rural-urban migration decreased for both male and female migrants within two years it began to increase again first affecting female migrants in the manufacturing industry and then male migrants in all occupations. (excerpt)