ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the development of an integrated approach to the empirical study of rural out-migration in sub-Saharan Africa. It aims to understand the immediate and broader causes of labor out-migration in rural Mali, a country in Sahelian West Africa. The changes associated with moving out of rural areas can only be understood through reference to the social, economic, and demographic characteristics of the households, villages, and regions from which migrants come. Education appears to be significantly related to migration. Most of the economic surplus accruing to the colonial administrators in Mali resulted from head taxes, obtained through labor migration, rather than from productive activities in Mali. Household patterns of labor allocation are viewed within the context of four general types of economic activity: on-farm productive work, rural non-agricultural cash-earning work, the exchange or hiring-out of labor to others' farms, and labor migration.
