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The purpose of this paper is to map the “migration pathways” (King and Skeldon, 2010) followed by interviews with a group of Vietnamese international labour migrants.

Through 50 in-depth interviews, the authors identify the reasons that explain the pathways observed.

The authors found that more than half of the interviewees did what King and Skeldon describe as a U-turn, whereby the migrants go abroad for work directly from their home town and return to settle there. The remainder did a J-turn, meaning the migrants returned and settled elsewhere. The majority of those doing a J-turn moved to another town/city within the province of their home town. Few return migrants settled outside their home province. The main explanations for the U-turn choice include existing investment in immobile assets in their home town, strong family ties, parental care obligations, lack of skill acquisition from international labour migration, age and for married migrants having children. Poor conditions in their home town, the absence of local job opportunities and better schooling for children were important considerations that made the J-turn more desirable. Having family ties in a new location, and affording the investment needed to settle in a new town, were important explanations to make the J-turn possible.

This paper highlights the need for economic development in rural Vietnam, including the creation of decentralised and sustainable livelihoods, so that return migrants have opportunities to reintegrate within their home communities.

This paper aims to examine the myriad linkages between cross‐border migration and international business activity through a conceptual framework of international arbitrage.

While labour is internationally the least integrated of the various markets (capital, product, labour) the increasing co‐movement of both tasks and workers has created opportunities for the arbitrage and exploitation of differences between national labour markets. Because national labour markets typically display the two characteristics of separation and price discrepancy it is possible to utilise the principle of arbitrage and within this framework examine cost, intellectual, knowledge and employment arbitrage.

The discussion suggests that international business offers valuable insights into migration processes and effects which have been dominated by the research approaches of other disciplines. It is found that migrants can help reduce transaction costs for bilateral trade, contribute to nostalgic trade, encourage outsourcing and foreign direct investment through referrals and performance signalling, assist country of origin development through remittances and return migration and provide valuable knowledge to their employers in the country of residence.

The paper is a conceptual one which offers no new empirical results but does provide a context for the interpretation of the more specialised studies that appear in this special issue. There is a need for research on this topic to be firmly grounded in the contemporary context of an increasingly integrated global economy. It also suggests a number of specific areas where further work would be useful.

The key contribution of the paper is in developing a comprehensive conceptual framework – that of labour market arbitrage – which enables a clearer understanding of the complex impacts of international migration on international business activity. It also distinguishes between direct and indirect effects.

A major policy issue facing leaders in the developing world is whether international migration, through remittances, contributes to the development process in migrant-sending communities or impedes the efficient allocation of labor and human capital at the origin countries. This study examines the impact of remittance inflows on out-farm migration of farm labor toward the nonfarm sector. Specifically, this study shows how international migrant remittances may alter the predictions of out-farm migration models by Harris–Todaro.

The authors use unbalanced panel time-series data on 77 developing countries between 1991 and 2010 within a dynamic panel time-series framework to estimate the impact of remittances on the out-farm migration rate.

The authors find two competing effects of remittances on out-farm migration of labor in developing countries. First, remittances decelerate the out-farm migration rates by supplementing farm income and consumption expenditures. Second, remittances provide a source of investment in nonfarm activities that increase the rate of migration out of agriculture over time. Combining these effects, on average, our elasticity estimates indicate that a 10% increase in remittances reduces the migration out of agriculture, on average, by 0.5% in developing countries over time.

The authors findings align with the “developmentalist” or “optimistic” views of international migration. International migration, through remittances, help make the inevitable transition out of the farm sector smoother for developing countries.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to extend the empirical literature on macro-level determinants of out-farm migration within the Harris–Todaro framework to explicitly account for the impacts of remittances inflows into developing countries that the new economics of labor migration (NELM) theory hypothesizes.

The purpose of this study is to identify, based on social network theory, the relationship between the direction of international migration (immigration/emigration) and the international movement of enterprises and their location.

A traditional gravity model and the Tobit estimation method are applied to three groups of countries from three different regions: Latin America, North America and the European Union. The study considers a period from 2001 to 2012.

The main results suggest that the international migration that goes from the European Union and North America to Latin America is related with the firms’ internationalization and their respective location.

Given that migration can be an important and reliable source of information, trust and knowledge, managers should see it as a “bridge” between the home and host countries, which, in turn, can increase their competitive advantage.

Governments can learn how migration and outward foreign direct investment interact. In addition, they could develop political frameworks to accurately and effectively manage international migration (immigration and emigration) and FDI in the best interests of the stakeholders.

This study extends the social network theory by suggesting that networks are not only related with firms’ expansion abroad but as well with their location. This statement could be generalizable as long as emigration/networks (ethnic ties) are considered the links between the home and the host country.

Open economy macroeconomic models generally overlook the effects of international migration and remittances on income and welfare. A two‐country temporary equilibrium model is presented which incorporates trade theoretic elements of international migration and remittances. In the model, an expansionary incomes, or a trade, policy by the host country induces migration, while expansionary demand policies in the source country discourage migration. In all cases, however, when some degree of international migration exists, potential income and welfare gains to both countries induced by such policies exceed the equivalent policy gains where international migration and remittances are absent.

There is a considerable gap in the literature examining the effect of parental international migration on children’s health in Pakistan. The author aims to examine the impact of parental international labour migration on the health (anthropometric measures) of children left-behind in Pakistan.

The author investigates the impact of parental international labour migration on the health (anthropometric measures) of children left-behind in Pakistan using econometric estimation techniques and the latest wave of the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2017–2018. The main child health measures the author uses include weight-for-age (WAZ) and height-for-age (HAZ) Z-scores for children under five years of age. Since unobservable factors may be vital determinants of the child nutrition outcomes, the author uses two unique instrumental variables to address the potential endogeneity problem.

The author finds that international migration improves the left-behind children’s weight-for-age and height-for-age nutritional outcomes, generating essential policy insights.

To the best of the auhtor’s knowledge, no previous study has been conducted on parental migration and left-behind children in Pakistan using the latest Demographic and Health Survey.

This paper aims to discuss the history of human migration till the present day.

The authors analyze the human movement from pre-hominid times, forming patterns of existence. Thus, ambient sun and water, weather and climate extremes, shelter, food supply, natural or human-made disasters gave rise to Homo sapiens’ wanderlust.

Despite obstacles, formidable barriers and even perilous deterrents, the species explored and exploited new soils and waters, whether beneficial or destructive of nature’s ample providence.

The authors treat societal as well as individual action, cultural behavior and the emergence of economic anthropology. Migratory legislation and regulation now risk transformation into resentment and then xenophobia.

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the structure of the international migration system has remained stable through the recent turbulent changes in the world system.

The methodology draws on the social network analysis framework – but with some noteworthy limitations stipulated by the specifics of data.

The list of the most central nodes demonstrates remarkable stability over time, with the USA consistently occupying the first place and Russia and Germany stably entering the top-five (or even top-three ever since 1990). Centrality analysis also clearly demonstrates the emergence (in the 1970s) and development of the Gulf countries (particularly Saudi Arabia and UAE) as major migration destinations.

The results of the analysis present a mixture of evidence to support both the principles of the neoclassical migration theory, and some of its critiques, as the migration patterns are strongly influenced by historical links (such as colonial ties), geographical distance, cultural distance, etc. Defining the scope of influence of each of these factors lies beyond the scale of this paper. However, further application of social network analysis to studying the global migration network, in the authors ' opinion, has quite remarkable potential for contributing to this line of research.

The paper views the specific features in the structure of the global migration network and their implications for world system studies.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the effects of the husband’s migration on wives’ decision-making autonomy.

The study setting is Magway Region of central Myanmar where poverty has driven adult males to migrate overseas. The study hypothesizes that the absence of husbands due to international migration leads to changes in the roles and decision-making power of left-behind wives. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 22 villages of Pakkoku district, Magway Region, using the multi-stage random sampling method. The study sample included 205 migrant’s wives and 196 non-migrant’s wives.

The international migration of husbands has a strong and positive impact on left-behind wives’ autonomy independent of individual characteristics and household social and economic status. In addition, the findings show that the number of children and household wealth are positively associated with women’s autonomy, whereas household size shows a negative association.

It is possible that there will be unmeasured selection factors such as unsuccessful migration as it might influence both husbands’ migration status and women’s autonomy. Cross-sectional data also invite a question about the causal relationship. For example, it might be possible that women with high autonomy may be more likely to encourage their husband to work abroad. So, the relationship might be the other way around. A further longitudinal study is also needed to describe detail explanation about the causal influence of left-behind women’s autonomy.

Successful international migration has a impact not only on women’s autonomy but also on household economic status in central rural Myanmar.

The aim of this paper is to present a conceptual model on foreign-born health care workers from developing countries working in the US. The model covers their motivations for migration, the consequences in terms of the inequality and exclusion they may experience and the role of institutional responses at micro-, macro- and meso-level of intervention.

The paper is based on: (1) in-depth review of key literature studies on the foundation theories of international migration including sociology, economics, anthropology, psychology and human resource management, (2) analysis of theoretical approaches to medical migration across disciplines, (3) analysis of the international and national documentary sources of micro-, macro- and meso-level policies on migration and (4) analysis of evidence on best practices, solutions and aspirational changes across different levels of institutions.

(1) Migration of international medical graduates (IMGs) from developing countries to the US can be explained from a micro-, macro- and meso-level of analysis. (2) IMGs who identify as racial/ethnic minorities may experience unfair discrimination differently than their US-born counterparts. (3) Although political/legislative remedies have had some successes, proactive initiatives will be needed alongside enforcement strategies to achieve equity and inclusion. (4) While diversity management initiatives abound in organizations, those designed for the benefit of IMGs from developing countries are rare. (5) Professional identity groups and some nonprofits may challenge structural inequities, but these have not yet achieved economies of scale.

Although it is well-documented in the US health care literature how ethnic/racial minorities are unfairly disadvantaged in work and career, the studies are rarely disaggregated according to sub-groups (e.g. non-White IMGs and US-born MGs). The implication is that Black IMG immigrants have been overlooked by the predominant narratives of native-born, Black experiences. In placing the realities of native-born Blacks on the entire Black population in America, data have ignored and undermined the diverse histories, identities and experiences of this heterogeneous group.

An awareness of the challenges IMGs from developing countries face have implications for managerial decisions regarding recruitment and selection. Besides their medical qualifications, IMGs from developing countries offer employers additional qualities that are critical to success in health care delivery. Considering organizations traditionally favor White immigrants from Northern and Southern Europe, IMGs from developed countries migrate to the US under relatively easier circumstances. It is important to balance the scale in the decision-making process by including an evaluation of migration antecedents in comprehensive selection criteria.

The unfair discrimination faced by IMGs who identify as racial/ethnic minority are multilayered and will affect them in ways that are different compared to their US-born counterparts. In effect, researchers need to make this distinction in research on racial discrimination. Since IMGs are not all uniformly impacted by unfair discrimination, organization-wide audits should be in tune with issues that are of concerns to IMGs who identify as racial/ethnic minorities. Likewise, diversity management strategies should be more inclusive and should not ignore the intersectionality of race/ethnicity, nationality, country of qualification and gender.

Immigrant health care workers from developing countries are integral to the health care industry in the United States. They make up a significant proportion of all workers in the health care industry in the US. Although the literature is replete with studies on immigrant health care workers as a whole, research has rarely focused on immigrant health care workers from developing countries. The paper makes a valuable contribution in drawing attention to this underappreciated group, given their critical role in the ongoing pandemic and the need for the US health industry to retain their services to remain viable in the future.