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Migration in Kenya: beyond Harris-Todaro

Migration in Kenya: beyond Harris-Todaro

Oyvat, Cem ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5097-0246 and wa Gĩthĩnji, Mwangi (2017) Migration in Kenya: beyond Harris-Todaro. [Working Paper]

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Abstract

This paper examines the impact of agrarian structures on the migration behavior and destination of rural household heads and individuals in Kenya. To explore the complexity of migration we extend the standard Harris-Todaro framework to account for land inequality and size as well as type of destination. Using logistic regressions, we show that Kenyan household heads born in districts with higher land inequality, smaller per capita land and lower per capita rural income are more likely to migrate. We show that for individuals whose incomes are squeezed by larger land inequality, migration from villages to suburban Nairobi, smaller cities, and villages in different districts could be a preferable strategy to migrating to Metro Nairobi. The impact of land inequality is more significant for male than female migration. Moreover, the level of education, age, marital status, gender, religion and distance to Nairobi play a role in migration behavior.

Item Type: Working Paper
Uncontrolled Keywords: Migration; Distribution; Agrarian structures
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: Faculty of Business
Faculty of Business > Institute of Political Economy, Governance, Finance and Accountability (IPEGFA) > Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre (GPERC)
Faculty of Business > Department of International Business & Economics
Last Modified: 04 Aug 2021 16:33
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/16226

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