Individual-level studies have shown that the amount of time lived by migrants in receiving areas serves an integrative and to a lesser extent equalizing role where migrants’ labor market and mobility outcomes are concerned (Adsera and Chiswick 2007; Redstone and Massey 2004; Borjas, Bronars and Trejo 1992). Migrants’ time lived in receiving areas has likewise been linked to reductions in individual prejudice on the part of natives given more potential opportunities for constructive interpersonal contacts with foreigners (Allport 1954; Pettigrew 1998; Pettigrew and Meertens 1995; Schneider 2008; Schlueter and Scheepers 2010). For example, in his analysis of internal migration within the United States, Alexander (2005:654) noted that a “highly transient migrant stream can inhibit the development of [a] migrant community…and draw at least some sort of antipathy from both long-term settlers and other local residents alike.”
The above studies raise the important issue of whether a summary measure of the temporal dynamics of international migration at the country-level might help to enhance understanding of migration patterns and the effects on social exclusion. Pitkin and Myers (2011:258, emphasis ours) recently argued that while many “empirical studies have yielded a multitude of specific” findings, the result has been “a plethora of disjointed and inconsistent results that yield little information about the overall [trend].” To date, the character and utility of a summary measure of the temporal dynamics of international migration that compliments stock- and rate-based measures is unknown. This is unfortunate from a migration policy perspective, where both the reception and incorporation of migrants in receiving countries is often implicit (Huddleston et al. 2011)...
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