ABSTRACT
This chapter summarises the contributions of economic theory to two increasingly important questions. Why do some people migrate while at the same time most people decide to stay where they are? Why do people move? The chapter focuses on the migration decision making process at the micro-level. Economic micro-migration theory is based on a set of assumptions about the behaviour of human beings. The effect of uncertain employment on migration flows is indeterminate. The development of human-capital theory was a key event in economic-migration theory. The introduction of conditionally rational behaviour into micro(-economic) -models of migration decision making, however, brings us a good way towards a comprehensive understanding of why migration starts. Many sociological and political meso-models of migration do introduce migration as a group decision. Most of the presented analyses of migration decision making incorporate an essentially static view of the assets and abilities of the potential migrant.
