Who migrates and where? Insights into global migrant selectivity through South American migration

Platt, Lucinda ORCID: 0000-0002-8251-6400 and Zuccotti, Carolina V. (2025) Who migrates and where? Insights into global migrant selectivity through South American migration. Revista Internacional de Sociología. ISSN 0034-9712 (In Press)

Text (H-M25a Who Migrates_R1_250610) - Accepted Version Pending embargo until 1 January 2100. Download (1MB)

Abstract

International migrants, especially those migrating for economic reasons, typically differ from non-migrant co-nationals in both observed (e.g., education) and unobserved characteristics (e.g., motivation). However, knowledge about such migrant selectivity, particularly from the Global South, remains limited. South America is a key region for studying this issue, as half of South American migrants live in another South American country, while the other half reside in Europe or the US. Using harmonized census data from IPUMS, we explore how migrant educational selectivity varies by origin, destination, and how it evolves over three decades (1990s-2010s). We show that South American migrants are selected in general but are more selected when moving to more distant or challenging locations, such as the US. At the same time, intraregional moves can also be highly selective, and at times resemble those directed towards Europe (where selectivity remains lower than to the US).

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Social Policy
Subjects:	L Education > L Education (General) J Political Science > JV Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration
Date Deposited:	19 Sep 2025 09:45
Last Modified:	24 Sep 2025 11:03
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/129548

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