How does unrest affect migration? Evidence from the three southernmost provinces of Thailand

Aree Jampaklay, Kathleen Ford, Apichat Chamratrithirong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

BACKGROUND In the southernmost provinces of Thailand, despite the long-term unrest concurrent withmigration, very limited research tackles the relationship between these two phenomena.OBJECTIVEThis analysis examines whether migration in the three southernmost provinces isassociated with the ongoing unrest.METHODSWe use a sample of 1,009 households from a household probability survey conducted inthe three southernmost provinces in 2014. The analysis uses two measures of migration:all migration and destination-specific migration. The unrest is measured as 1) whether aviolent incident occurred in the village in the most recent year and 2) the perceivedeffect of the unrest on the overall life of the household.RESULTSHouseholds in villages where a violent incidence occurred in the past year andhouseholds that reported that the unrest affected overall life a lot are more likely to havea migrant. These effects are direct, net of other household and social networkcharacteristics. The unrest is related to increased migration both within Thailand and toMalaysia. This result is stronger for migration to Malaysia compared to migrationwithin Thailand. The destination of migrants is related to education.CONCLUSIONSUnrest reaches certain levels and can outweigh the costs of migration, leading to anacceleration of migration. Findings address education as a potential counfoundingvariable of migration.CONTRIBUTIONThis is the first analysis in Thailand that addresses the relationship between the unrest and migration. We add to very few studies that examine differences in migrant destination and that use both objective and subjective measures of the unrest.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)25-52
Number of pages28
JournalDemographic Research
Volume37
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Jul 2017

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