Empirical Evidence on Human Trafficking and Migration-Debt Contracts in Bangladesh

This article presents an analysis of the payments illegal migrants make to traffickers. It covers thetotal amounts of these payments, the incidence of migration-debt (or shared) contracts, and the value of the deferred payment component under these shared contracts. Data on illegal migrants from thr...

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Main Authors: Joarder, Munim, Miller, Paul
Format: Journal Article
Published: Routledge 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19032
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author Joarder, Munim
Miller, Paul
author_facet Joarder, Munim
Miller, Paul
author_sort Joarder, Munim
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This article presents an analysis of the payments illegal migrants make to traffickers. It covers thetotal amounts of these payments, the incidence of migration-debt (or shared) contracts, and the value of the deferred payment component under these shared contracts. Data on illegal migrants from three field surveys conducted in Bangladesh from April 2009 to November 2010 are used. The results show that the total payments made to traffickers vary with easily observed characteristics (gender, age, marital status) but do not vary with details of the migration process (training provided, time spent in the trafficker’s queue). These relationships are consistent with exploitation. Migration-debt contracts are more prevalent when the costs of illegal migration arerelatively high, which adds empirical support to theoretical models such as Friebel and Guriev (2006). Contrary to existing reports, we document variations in fees for illegal passage across individuals.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-190322017-09-13T13:45:15Z Empirical Evidence on Human Trafficking and Migration-Debt Contracts in Bangladesh Joarder, Munim Miller, Paul This article presents an analysis of the payments illegal migrants make to traffickers. It covers thetotal amounts of these payments, the incidence of migration-debt (or shared) contracts, and the value of the deferred payment component under these shared contracts. Data on illegal migrants from three field surveys conducted in Bangladesh from April 2009 to November 2010 are used. The results show that the total payments made to traffickers vary with easily observed characteristics (gender, age, marital status) but do not vary with details of the migration process (training provided, time spent in the trafficker’s queue). These relationships are consistent with exploitation. Migration-debt contracts are more prevalent when the costs of illegal migration arerelatively high, which adds empirical support to theoretical models such as Friebel and Guriev (2006). Contrary to existing reports, we document variations in fees for illegal passage across individuals. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19032 10.1080/00220388.2013.858128 Routledge restricted
spellingShingle Joarder, Munim
Miller, Paul
Empirical Evidence on Human Trafficking and Migration-Debt Contracts in Bangladesh
title Empirical Evidence on Human Trafficking and Migration-Debt Contracts in Bangladesh
title_full Empirical Evidence on Human Trafficking and Migration-Debt Contracts in Bangladesh
title_fullStr Empirical Evidence on Human Trafficking and Migration-Debt Contracts in Bangladesh
title_full_unstemmed Empirical Evidence on Human Trafficking and Migration-Debt Contracts in Bangladesh
title_short Empirical Evidence on Human Trafficking and Migration-Debt Contracts in Bangladesh
title_sort empirical evidence on human trafficking and migration-debt contracts in bangladesh
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19032