A MODEL OF MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES APPLIED TO WESTERN KENYA

Existing models treat migration as either an individual or household decision. In this paper, migration is modeled as the outcome of joint utility maximisation by the prospective migrant and other household members. This approach encompasses the Todaro and household models as special cases or a more general model. It provides a theoretical rationale for the inclusion of a richer set of explanatory variables in an econometric model of migration. Further. it links the determinants of migration with existing work on remittances. Empirical evidence from a rural household survey in western Kenya provides support for the model.