Core claim
Neoclassical theory saw migrants chasing wages. Stark and Lucas (1988) and Stark (1991) argued families send members abroad to diversify income and insure against shocks where insurance and credit markets are missing.
Remittances and relative deprivation
Remittances are part of an implicit family contract mixing altruism and insurance (Lucas & Stark, 1985). Stark and Taylor (1991) showed relative deprivation within villages drives migration, and Taylor (1999) and Taylor and colleagues (2003) found remittances raise investment and income at origin.
Relation to other theories
Massey and colleagues (1993) placed it alongside neoclassical theory, dual labor market theory and world-systems theory. It also shaped brain drain and brain gain debates.
FAQ
- What is it in simple terms?
- A theory that sees migration as a family strategy to share risk and raise money.
- How does it differ from older theory?
- It stresses families, risk, relative deprivation and remittances, not only wage gaps.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Stark, O. (1991). The migration of labor. Basil Blackwell. The book consolidating the approach.
- Lucas, R. E. B., & Stark, O. (1985). Motivations to remit: Evidence from Botswana. Journal of Political Economy, 93(5), 901–918. A classic on why migrants remit.
- Stark, O., & Lucas, R. E. B. (1988). Migration, remittances, and the family. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 36(3), 465–481. The family as the unit of migration decisions.
- Stark, O., & Taylor, J. E. (1991). Migration incentives, migration types: The role of relative deprivation. The Economic Journal, 101(408), 1163–1178. Relative deprivation drives migration.
- Massey, D. S., Arango, J., Hugo, G., Kouaouci, A., Pellegrino, A., & Taylor, J. E. (1993). Theories of international migration: A review and appraisal. Population and Development Review, 19(3), 431–466. Compares major migration theories.
- Taylor, J. E. (1999). The new economics of labour migration and the role of remittances in the migration process. International Migration, 37(1), 63–88. Remittances in the migration process.
- Taylor, J. E., Rozelle, S., & de Brauw, A. (2003). Migration and incomes in source communities: A new economics of migration perspective from China. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 52(1), 75–101. Evidence from rural China.