An analysis of rural-to-rural migration in India

This paper examines some of the determinants of rural-to-rural migration in India. For female migration for marriage, which accounted for nearly a half of the total rural-to-rural migration flow during the 1970s, the results of the paper are not in discordance with the view of patrilocal exogamy as an insurance mechanism. However, we also find indirect support for the view that where women's economic contributions are seen to be valuable in the context of the family and the village economy, the outmigration of women for the purpose of marriage would ceteris paribus be lower. For migration for purposes other than marriage, the scheduled caste status is seen to have an effect independent of its indirect effect on poverty. However, with the exception of migration for the purpose of marriage, we do not find the influences of our explanatory variables to differ greatly across gender.