Land Ownership as a Determinant of International and Internal Migration in Mexico and Internal Migration in Thailand

Leah K. VanWey, Indiana University

This study focuses on the effect of land ownership on internal and international out-migration in Mexico and on internal out-migration and return migration in Thailand. I consider land to impact migration in four ways: as wealth; as employment; as an investment opportunity; and through inequality in ownership. I estimate discrete time event history models of individual migration with land owned by a household as the key predictor. Land has a significant curvilinear effect. The effect on out-migration is negative for the majority of households. For large landholders, the effect on out-migration is positive. Thus, land is a form of employment for members, and smallholders migrate in order to purchase more land. For large landholders, land is an investment opportunity.