“The Effect of Public Policy on Migration from the Overseas Départements to Metropolitan France”

the Monday 01 October 2018 at l’Ined, salle Sauvy de 11h30 à 12h30

Presented by : Marine Haddad (OSC-Sciences Po, CREST-LSQ) ; Discussant : Stéphanie Condon (Ined)

Marine Haddad is the winner of the 2018 Young Author’s Prize for her article:"Migration from French Overseas Departments to Metropolitan France: What We Can Learn about a State Policy from the Censuses, 1962-1999"

This article offers new perspectives for demographic analysis of four French overseas departements (DOM): Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique and Réunion. What are the effects of public population policies, notably those implemented by the Office for DOM migration (Bureau pour la migration des DOM, Bumidom, 1963-1981) and its successors, on migration to metropolitan France? French census data from 1968 to 1999 are used to measure the size and structure of migration flows over time, as well as their scale, expressed as a proportion of the DOM populations. Using difference-in-difference regressions, this study assesses the effects of the policies implemented by the Bumidom. It shows that while the Bumidom accelerated the growth of migration flows, they were also fuelled by the socioeconomic gap between the DOMs and the mainland. Given that places in higher education and the share of high school graduates in the DOMs are not increasing at the same pace, the rise of educational aspirations also appears to be a push factor. A comparison of DOM residents remaining at home and those who migrate to the metropolis shows that since 1968 the latter have been characterized by a higher level of education.  

 

Marine Haddad

Marine Haddad is a PhD candidate in sociology at the Observatoire Sociologique du Changement (Sciences Po) and the Laboratoire de Sociologie Quantitative (CREST). Since 2015, she has been studying migration from the French overseas départements (Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion) to mainland France. Her thesis analyses changes in these flows over time; it investigates how the migration experience shapes overseas natives’ trajectories and reveals the ambivalence of their status in France. The project uses several statistical data sources as well as interviews conducted with overseas natives living in mainland France. Her thesis analyses the structure of migration flows in relation to overseas natives’ careers in the mainland and their perceived social positions. It characterizes the mechanisms behind overseas natives’ migration, their socioeconomic position in mainland France, as well as the production of ethno-racial boundaries influenced by the perceptions associated with their trajectories, their citizenship, and their skin color.