A Quick End to a Long Story: Networks and Mexican Migration during the Great Recession

Abstract

During times of economic recession, migrants face long periods of unemployment or underemployment in destination countries. This information is transmitted to migrant-sending households via networks that link communities of origin and destination, letting potential migrants know that if they were to migrate they would likely experience low and unstable earnings, and that remittances normally expected from international migration might be placed at risk. In this event, there are few incentives for other household members to migrate. This study examines the effect that information sent through networks during recessionary times has in reducing the likelihood of out-migration, thereby explaining why Mexico-U.S. migration fell so suddenly with the onset of the Great Recession in the United States.