How does poverty affect migration choice? a review of literature

Until recent years, this has been a relatively under-researched area, at least in comparison to the significant amount of (economic) literature examining the reverse causal relationship, the impact of migration on wellbeing. Poverty and vulnerability are likely to have two conflicting effects on migration: by providing incentives to migrate, either as a strategy for livelihood diversification or out of destitution; but also by reducing the ability to migrate because the transfer costs involved (in terms of financial, human, physical and social capital) are too high.