Globalization, History and International Migration: A View from Latin America

Abstract

Migration has occurred in both waves of globalization, but the migration within the 20th century globalisation period has shown to increase capital mobility and international trade. However, international migration remains constrained in the unskilled labour and the poor labour market segments, while there has been an increasing international mobility within the scarce skilled and high education segments with the increasing globalization of capital and goods markets. Using the example of Latin America, international migration patterns are due to income per capita disparities. Also South-North migration is mostly from Mexico, the Carribean, and Central America countries to the United States, while some Latin American military regimes have instigated the emigration of educated people that de-capitalize a country's valuable human resources. This paper provides an overview of the history of globalization concerning international migration from the perspective of Latin America.

This paper was written as an insight into the work of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization 2004 that aims to provide a fairer globalization for all.

Keywords: globalization, history, international migration, Latin America

JEL Classification: F02, O54, F22