Description

This study uses a small, non-representative household survey (1988) of 692 households in Mexico to examine the effects of international migration on income distribution. Results suggest that income inequality decreases with international migration up to a point, after which inequality increases. At advanced stages of international migration, households with more income benefit more. By contrast, results suggest that at advanced stages of migration, rural income inequality improves more than urban income inequality because agricultural investments made by rural migrants enable farming elites to rise above the traditional urban business class.

©1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Reproduced with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.