THEORIES OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION - A REVIEW AND APPRAISAL

This article surveys contemporary theories of international migration in order to illuminate their leading Propositions, assumptions, and hy potheses. In doing so, it hopes to pave the way for a systematic empir ical evaluation of their guiding tenets. The authors divide the theori es conceptually into those advanced to explain the initiation of inter national migration and those put forth to account for the persistence of migration across space and time. The review suggests that, because they are specified at such different levels of analysis, the theories are not inherently logically inconsistent. The task of selecting betwe en theories and propositions thus becomes an empirical exercise, one t hat must occur before a truly integrated theoretical framework can be fully realized.