IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dem/demres/v36y2017i10.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Family migration in a cross-national perspective: The importance of institutional and cultural context

Author

Listed:
  • Sergi Vidal

    (Centre d'Estudis Demogràfics (CED))

  • Francisco Perales

    (University of Queensland)

  • Maria Brandén

    (Linköpings Universitet)

  • Philipp M. Lersch

    (Universität zu Köln)

Abstract

Objective: Migration rates of dual-earner couples are lower than those of male-breadwinner couples. We revisit this issue using a cross-national comparative perspective and examine heterogeneity in the role of female employment in couple relocations. We propose a theoretical framework in which national levels of support for female employment and normative expectations about gender roles act as moderators of the relationship between couple type (i.e., dual-earner and male-breadwinner) and family migration. Methods: We deploy discrete-time event history analyses of harmonised longitudinal data from four large-scale datasets from Australia, Britain, Germany, and Sweden, covering the 1992-2011 period. Results: Consistent with prior research, we find that male-breadwinner couples migrate more often than dual-earner couples in all countries, suggesting that traditional gender structures affecting family migration operate across very different contexts. We also find cross-country differences in the estimated effects of different sorts of absolute and relative partner resources on family migration. Conclusions: We take our results as preliminary evidence that national contexts can serve as moderators of the relationship between within-couple employment arrangements and family migration decisions. Contribution: Our study contributes to family migration literature by illustrating how cross-national comparisons are a valuable methodological approach to put prevailing micro-level explanations of the relationship between female employment and family migration in context.

Suggested Citation

  • Sergi Vidal & Francisco Perales & Maria Brandén & Philipp M. Lersch, 2017. "Family migration in a cross-national perspective: The importance of institutional and cultural context," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(10), pages 307-338.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:36:y:2017:i:10
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2017.36.10
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol36/10/36-10.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/DemRes.2017.36.10?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mincer, Jacob, 1978. "Family Migration Decisions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 749-773, October.
    2. Siv S. Gustafsson & Shirley Dex & Cécile M. M. P. Wetzels & Jan Dirk Vlasblom, 1996. "Women`s labor force transitions in connection with childbirth: A panel data comparison between Germany, Sweden and Great Britain," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 9(3), pages 223-246.
    3. Thomas Cooke & Paul Boyle & Kenneth Couch & Peteke Feijten, 2009. "A longitudinal analysis of family migration and the gender gap in earnings in the united states and great britain," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 46(1), pages 147-167, February.
    4. Paul Boyle & Thomas Cooke & Keith Halfacree & Darren Smith, 2003. "The Effect of Long-Distance Family Migration and Motherhood on Partnered Women's Labour-Market Activity Rates in Great Britain and the USA," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 35(12), pages 2097-2114, December.
    5. ,, 2000. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 287-299, April.
    6. Shelly Lundberg & Robert Pollak, 2003. "Efficiency in Marriage," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 1(3), pages 153-167, September.
    7. Olivier Thévenon, 2011. "Family Policies in OECD Countries: A Comparative Analysis," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 37(1), pages 57-87, March.
    8. Paul Boyle & Thomas Cooke & Keith Halfacree & Darren Smith, 2001. "A cross-national comparison of the impact of family migration on women’s employment status," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(2), pages 201-213, May.
    9. Nicole Watson & Mark Wooden, 2011. "Re-engaging with Survey Non-respondents: The BHPS, SOEP and HILDA Survey Experience," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2011n02, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    10. Satu Nivalainen, 2004. "Determinants of family migration: short moves vs. long moves," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 17(1), pages 157-175, February.
    11. Frances Goldscheider & Eva Bernhardt & Trude Lappegård, 2015. "The Gender Revolution: A Framework for Understanding Changing Family and Demographic Behavior," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 41(2), pages 207-239, June.
    12. Peter Mcdonald, 2006. "Low Fertility and the State: The Efficacy of Policy," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 32(3), pages 485-510, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hornung, Maria & Stuffolino, Emanuela & Zagel, Hannah, 2024. "Poverty among migrant, mixed, and non-migrant households: the role of non-teleworkability and single-earnership in Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Latest Ar, pages 1-28.
    2. Jani Turunen & Karin Lundström & Maria Brandén, 2023. "Geographical distance between child and parent after a union dissolution in Sweden, 1974–2011," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 48(17), pages 439-482.
    3. Stefanie Kley & Sonja Drobnič, 2019. "Does moving for family nest-building inhibit mothers' labour force (re-)entry?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(7), pages 155-184.
    4. Sergi Vidal & Philipp M. Lersch, 2019. "Changes in gender role attitudes following couples' residential relocations," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(39), pages 1111-1152.
    5. Dean R. Lillard, 2021. "Cross‐National Research: Realised and Potential Contributions," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 54(4), pages 542-553, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maria Brandén & Karen Haandrikman, 2019. "Who Moves to Whom? Gender Differences in the Distance Moved to a Shared Residence," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(3), pages 435-458, July.
    2. Martin Abraham & Natascha Nisic, 2012. "A simple mobility game for couples’ migration decisions and some quasi-experimental evidence1," Rationality and Society, , vol. 24(2), pages 168-197, May.
    3. Hendrik Jürges, 2006. "Gender ideology, division of housework, and the geographic mobility of families," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 4(4), pages 299-323, December.
    4. Joanna Venator, 2022. "Dual-Earner Migration Decisions, Earnings, and Unemployment Insurance," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 1052, Boston College Department of Economics.
    5. Sergi Vidal & Johannes Huinink, 2019. "Introduction to the special collection on spatial mobility, family dynamics, and gender relations," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 41(21), pages 593-616.
    6. Mark P. Taylor, 2007. "Tied Migration and Subsequent Employment: Evidence from Couples in Britain," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 69(6), pages 795-818, December.
    7. Rabe, Birgitta, 2006. "Dual-earner migration in Britain: earnings gains, employment, and self-selection," ISER Working Paper Series 2006-01, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    8. Åström, Johanna & Westerlund, Olle, 2009. "Sex and Migration: Who is the Tied Mover?," Umeå Economic Studies 787, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    9. Birgitta Rabe, 2011. "Dual-earner migration. Earnings gains, employment and self-selection," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(2), pages 477-497, April.
    10. Foged, Mette, 2016. "Family migration and relative earnings potentials," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 87-100.
    11. Diana Tam & Arthur Grimes, 2023. "Migration of dual-earner couples: a subjective wellbeing approach," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 269-289, March.
    12. Natascha Nisic & Stefanie Kley, 2019. "Gender-specific effects of commuting and relocation on a couple's social life," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(36), pages 1047-1062.
    13. Vidal, Sergi & Lersch, Philipp M., 2019. "Changes in gender role attitudes following couples' residential relocations," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 0(39), pages 1111-1152.
    14. Sergi Vidal & Philipp M. Lersch, 2019. "Changes in gender role attitudes following couples' residential relocations," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(39), pages 1111-1152.
    15. Fang Lee Cooke, 2007. "Husband's career first," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 21(1), pages 47-65, March.
    16. Kent Eliasson & Robert Nakosteen & Olle Westerlund & Michael Zimmer, 2014. "All in the family: Self-selection and migration by couples," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(1), pages 101-124, March.
    17. Janice Compton & Robert A. Pollak, 2007. "Why Are Power Couples Increasingly Concentrated in Large Metropolitan Areas?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(3), pages 475-512.
    18. Govert Bijwaard & Stijn Doeselaar, 2014. "The impact of changes in the marital status on return migration of family migrants," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(4), pages 961-997, October.
    19. Beata Osiewalska, 2018. "Partners’ empowerment and fertility in ten European countries," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(49), pages 1495-1534.
    20. Thomas J. Cooke, 2013. "All tied up: Tied staying and tied migration within the United States, 1997 to 2007," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(30), pages 817-836.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    family migration; cross-national comparison; female employment; event history analysis; institutional context; dual-earner couples;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:36:y:2017:i:10. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Editorial Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.