Economic Motives and functions of migration: perspectives of India-Japan relationship

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K23240
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0107:Economics, business administration, and related fields
• Research Institution: Seinan Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: KATO MARIKO 西南学院大学, 経済学部, 准教授 (30613228)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-08-30 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: インド / 移住 / 移民 / 送金 / 社会的後進層 / 貧困層 / 階層 / Covid-19

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Thanks to recent prevail of the modern technology, through comprehensive people’s inclusion into global economy, increased polarlized demand for labor for highly skilled human capital and lower skilled labor have "pulled" Indian migration labor to the urban centres, as the both types of labor are relatively cheap in global economies. The former, well-educated Indians have emerged as symbolic IT intelligence as country's competence, and the latter, relatively poor educated in lower social strata, meet new labor opportunities domestically.
However, COVID-19 has brought distinct dranbacks not only to India but numerous countries, including Japan, due to globalization as essential for growth.
Embedded extraordinary social discriminations, the lack of artificial remedial policies on endemic inequality, most of the social and economic losses are concentrated in the vulnerable domestic migration force in India, and it would impair future development and resilience of all over the world.

Free Research Field

開発経済学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

2000年以降のグローバリゼーションが提示した問題は、豊かな国と貧しい国の格差の減少と、国内格差の深刻な拡大が同時に起きているということにあった。先進経済地域における高い賃金機会を求めて、インドの高カースト家庭や豊かな家計は、高い教育資本をもとに、高技能の国際移住をめざす結果、経済発展の動力となる知的資本が海外へ流出する。一方で、教育水準が低い人々は、安価な非熟練労働者としての都市へ移住し、出稼ぎを行う。つまり、経済的動機による移住は、安定的に階層的な社会を維持する担保力となる。Covid-19によって、国内の低賃金の移住労働者が大量に失業したことが、社会・経済の不安定化の要素となっている。