International Migration and Its Determinants Evidence from Albania

Abstract

This paper gives an overview of migration with specific evidence on the case of Albania. Albania is a country on the move, both internally and internationally. This mobility plays a crucial role in household-level strategies to face with economic hardship and it is the most important social, economic and political phenomenon in Albania. About one half of all Albanian households have an exposure to migration case, either through temporary migration of a household member or through their children living abroad. This study will provide a step towards understanding the potential of international migration of Albanians and analyses the determinants that influence more the intentions to migrate like unemployment and average monthly wage. For the preparation of this paper a lot of available data for Albania have been used. Mainly, the data are gathered from the publishing of World Bank and Albanian Institute of Statistics. The data were taken for a period of 16 years, from 1998 to 2013 by implementing the Johansen Cointegration Test. The cointegration results provide evidence of a unique cointegrating vector. In other words, a long-run stable relationship between migration, unemployment and wage exists. This indicates that migration, unemployment and wage move together in the long run in Albania.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n3p379