The Determinants of Immigration from Fiji to New Zealand: An Empirical Reassessment using the Bounds Testing Approach

Abstract

This article re-examines Gani's (1998) findings on the determinants of migrant flows from Fiji to New Zealand by employing the bounds testing procedure to cointegration, within an autoregressive distributive lag framework. The main findings are that in the long run all variables are statistically insignificant, although correctly signed with the exception of the unemployment differential. In the short run, in sharp contrast to Gani's (1998) findings, political instability is consistently the most important determinant of migration flows while the standard of living and real wage differentials are statistically insignificant across all specifications.

What Determines Migration Flows From Low‐income to High‐income Countries? An Empirical Investigation of FIJI–U.S. Migration 1972–2001

“…Moreover, those studies which exist have reached mixed results about the effects of the coups on migration from Fiji. Gani and Ward (1995), focusing on skilled migrants, and Narayan and Smyth (2003) found that political instability was statistically significant, whereas Gani (1998) found that the coups were a statistically insignificant determinant of migration from Fiji to New Zealand.…”

“…Previous studies to include a similar variable have found the cost of migration to have a negative and statistically significant effect on migration. These include Brosnan and Poot (1987), who examine the determinants of trans-Tasman migration flows between Australia and New Zealand, and Narayan and Smyth (2003), who examine the reasons for migration from Fiji to New Zealand.…”

“…These studies have considered the effect of the transfer of human capital on the countries of origin and destination, the value of the transfer of human capital, the effect of government policies, and the reasons for migrant flows (see Gani and Ward 1995). The last group includes studies of the determinants of migrant flows from low‐income countries to the United States (Huang 1987; MacPhee and Hassan 1990), low‐income countries to Canada (DeVoretz and Maki 1983; Akbar and DeVoretz, 1993), and from Fiji to New Zealand (Gani and Ward 1995; Gani 1998; Narayan and Smyth, 2003). Though the United States has traditionally been a major recipient of migrants from Fiji, to date there are no studies of the determinants of migrant flows from Fiji to the United States.…”

Private Military and Security Labour Migration: The Case of Fiji

“…Reddy et al, 2004;Voigt-Graf et al, 2007). Extensive attention has also been given to the impact of remittances on social protection and migration intentions (Jimenez and Brown, 2013;Leeves, 2009;Kaitani, et al, 2011), political instability as a migration determinant (Narayan and Smyth, 2003) and human capital loss as an emigration cost (Reddy et al, 2004;Chandra, 2004). In other words, the existing literature centres around the patterns, intentions, benefits and costs of (skilled) migrations, with an emphasis on their development impacts.…”

The long‐run impact of coups on Fiji's economy: evidence from a computable general equilibrium model

“…This was reflected in the large exodus of people to countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Over the 1987 to 1999 period, for instance, around 7 000 professionals and skilled workers emigrated from Fiji (Narayan and Smyth, 2003). Amid weakening democracy and mass skilled immigration, the growth performance of the Fijian economy over the last decade has been sluggish.…”