MADE Policy Brief (no. 1)

Research suggests that rising levels of ‘development’ lead to rising levels of migration. However, little is known about large variations in the way development has shaped human mobility across different societies and periods. To improve understanding on the drivers of migration, the MADE project explored: How do processes of development and social transformation shape human migration? More specifically, how does fundamental societal change affect the direction, timing, selection, and volumes of internal and international migration? To answer these questions, MADE elaborated new theoretical and empirical approaches for migration research. While prior analyses focused on how a limited number of economic and demographic factors affect short-term fluctuations in international migration, we examined how political, economic, technological, demographic and cultural change shape long-term trends and patterns of internal and international mobility.