International Migration Review

This article argues that the semiperipheral development of Puerto Rico since around 1975 has led to the creation of a relative labor surplus in the formal sectors of the economy while at the same time increasing the demand for cheap labor in the informal service sector. Thus, Puerto Ricans leave their country in search of good jobs in the United States while Dominicans migrate to Puerto Rico and find work in the informal sector. The return migration of Puerto Ricans has also been significant, but is due to their strong national culture, rather than economic reasons. The article concludes that migration to and from Puerto Rico is of a semiperipheral type because it combines characteristics of migration previously described as “migration from the periphery to the center” and “migration within the periphery.” A precise definition of the semiperipheral characteristics of Puerto Rico is given.

This study attempts to explain similarities and differences in the mortality experience of three population groups: Puerto Ricans on the island commonwealth, Puerto Rican born persons in New York City and Puerto Rican born persons in the rest of mainland United States. Mortality is much higher among Puerto Ricans in New York City than among those residing elsewhere. Much of the difference is due to excess mortality caused by cirrhosis of the liver and homicide. Puerto Rican born persons living on the mainland but outside New York City generally have low mortality, even when compared with U.S. whites.

Individuals often make migration decisions on the basis of economic circumstances. In the United States, increased competition for jobs in large cohorts apparently led to reduced migration to large cities. In rural areas, greater competition for local resources might increase pressures to emigrate for members of large cohorts. But data from St. Barthélemy, French West Indies show that, for people born from 1878 to 1967, neither cohort size nor fluctuations in external demands for labor had a lasting effect on the probability of eventual migration. Emigration rates only slowed after the development of the local tourist industry brought prosperity to the island.

This article compares policies toward Salvadorean and Nicaraguan refugees adopted by the Costa Rican government between 1980 and 1989. It examines the differences in treatment of the two groups in the light of four explanatory factors: 1) economic conditions in the host country; 2) the Costa Rican foreign policy interests; 3) national security concerns; and 4) attitudes expressed by the Costa Rican public toward the two refugee groups. It is argued that economic conditions, security concerns and public responses shaped policies toward Salvadorean refugees. Treatment of Nicaraguans, on the other hand, was influenced primarily by the nature of external relations between Costa Rica, Nicaragua and the United States.

Studies of voluntary international population migrations have frequently shown that, because the movements are based on choice, the principal motivating factors are economic. Permanent international migrations are therefore seen as an adjustment to economic inequalities in that migrants move from one country in the hope of obtaining better employment and higher incomes in another country. However, this article suggests that the special case of southern African countries (Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe), in which the majority of permanent movers have historically been whites of European origin, requires that greater attention should be given to the politico-structural context of voluntary international migrations. Statistical data on international migrations to and from Zimbabwe during the past quarter of a century are used to demonstrate that the temporal magnitude and spatial patterns of population movements are best explained by reference to the changing political, rather than economic, conditions within the country.

Israel is a country of immigrants: Israel's Jewish population grew “from 649,000 in May 1948 to 2,752,700 at the end of 1972, and 3,373,200 in 1982…. Immigration accounted for more than 1,721,426 persons or approximately 60 percent of this increase” (Damian, 1974:33). But, from the outset, Israel has also been a country of emigration, with some 305,000 leaving between 1948 and 1984 (Sabbatello, n.d.). In Hebrew, emigration from Israel is yerida, literally “going down,” fading or failing, and in recent years this emigration has been widely viewed by Israelis as an index of decline.