The impact of international migration on social and economic development in Moroccan sending regions

Despite its status as one of the world’s leading emigration countries, empirical work on Morocco has been largely absent from the lively theoretical debate on migration and development. The social and economic impact of international migration on Moroccan migrant-sending regions is assessed here thr...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: de Haas, H
Format: Working paper
Language:English
Published: International Migration Institute 2007
Subjects:
_version_ 1826301527995711488
author de Haas, H
author_facet de Haas, H
author_sort de Haas, H
collection OXFORD
description Despite its status as one of the world’s leading emigration countries, empirical work on Morocco has been largely absent from the lively theoretical debate on migration and development. The social and economic impact of international migration on Moroccan migrant-sending regions is assessed here through a review of empirical studies. Notwithstanding empirical gaps and methodological flaws, available evidence suggests that migration and remittances have considerably improved living conditions, income, education and spurred economic activity through agricultural, real estate and business investment, from which non-migrants indirectly profit. This has transformed migrant-sending regions such as the Rif, Sous and southern oases into relatively prosperous areas that now attract internal ‘reverse’ migrants. Although this challenges prevailing pessimism, the developmental potential of migration is not fully realized due to several structural constraints. Migration impacts are heterogeneous across space, socio-ethnic and gender groups, and tend to change over time and household migration cycles. Migration and remittances may enable people to retreat from, as much as to invest in, local economic activities, depending on the specific development context. Paradoxically, development in migrant-sending regions seems to be a prerequisite for return and investment rather than a consequence of migration.
first_indexed 2024-03-07T05:33:47Z
format Working paper
id oxford-uuid:e32b79bc-e5a7-4a5e-bb69-52a269bf42ee
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-07T05:33:47Z
publishDate 2007
publisher International Migration Institute
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:e32b79bc-e5a7-4a5e-bb69-52a269bf42ee2022-03-27T10:07:08ZThe impact of international migration on social and economic development in Moroccan sending regionsWorking paperhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_8042uuid:e32b79bc-e5a7-4a5e-bb69-52a269bf42eeMigrationEnglishOxford University Research Archive - ValetInternational Migration Institute2007de Haas, HDespite its status as one of the world’s leading emigration countries, empirical work on Morocco has been largely absent from the lively theoretical debate on migration and development. The social and economic impact of international migration on Moroccan migrant-sending regions is assessed here through a review of empirical studies. Notwithstanding empirical gaps and methodological flaws, available evidence suggests that migration and remittances have considerably improved living conditions, income, education and spurred economic activity through agricultural, real estate and business investment, from which non-migrants indirectly profit. This has transformed migrant-sending regions such as the Rif, Sous and southern oases into relatively prosperous areas that now attract internal ‘reverse’ migrants. Although this challenges prevailing pessimism, the developmental potential of migration is not fully realized due to several structural constraints. Migration impacts are heterogeneous across space, socio-ethnic and gender groups, and tend to change over time and household migration cycles. Migration and remittances may enable people to retreat from, as much as to invest in, local economic activities, depending on the specific development context. Paradoxically, development in migrant-sending regions seems to be a prerequisite for return and investment rather than a consequence of migration.
spellingShingle Migration
de Haas, H
The impact of international migration on social and economic development in Moroccan sending regions
title The impact of international migration on social and economic development in Moroccan sending regions
title_full The impact of international migration on social and economic development in Moroccan sending regions
title_fullStr The impact of international migration on social and economic development in Moroccan sending regions
title_full_unstemmed The impact of international migration on social and economic development in Moroccan sending regions
title_short The impact of international migration on social and economic development in Moroccan sending regions
title_sort impact of international migration on social and economic development in moroccan sending regions
topic Migration
work_keys_str_mv AT dehaash theimpactofinternationalmigrationonsocialandeconomicdevelopmentinmoroccansendingregions
AT dehaash impactofinternationalmigrationonsocialandeconomicdevelopmentinmoroccansendingregions