Fears and Tears - Should More People Be Moving within and from Developing Countries, and What Stops this Movement? - Policy Implications

Jul 19, 2026

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Migration is often associated with large potential gains in income, yet only about one in seven people have ever migrated. This work reviews economic explanations for limited movement, emphasizing misinformation about benefits, liquidity constraints, and high costs and policy barriers. It argues that “fears and tears” are equally important: uncertainty about relocating and psychological attachments to existing places shape decisions even when financial and policy constraints are absent. Policy should help people visualize opportunity costs, reduce uncertainty, and shift default non-migration behavior.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages22

Reading Time55 min

Introduction

Migration gains and the central puzzle

Constraints versus fears and tears

Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Fears and Tears: Should More People Be Moving within and from Developing Countries, and What Stops this Movement? David McKenzie Only one in seven of the world’s population have ever migrated, despite the enormous gainsin income possible through international and internal movement. I examine the evidence for different explanations given in the economics literature for this lack of movement and their implications for policy. Incorrect information about the gains to migrating, liquidity constraints that prevent poor people paying the costs of moving, and high costs of movement arising from both physical transportation costs and policy barriers all inhibit movement and offer scope for policy efforts to inform, provide credit, and lower moving costs. However, the economics literature has paid less attention to the fears people have when faced with the un certainty of moving to a new place, and to the reasons behind the tears they shed when mov ing. While these tears reveal the attachment people have to particular places, this attachment is not fixed, but itself changes with migration experiences. Psychological factors such as a bias toward the status quo and the inability to picture what one is giving up by not migrating can result in people not moving, even when they would benefit from movement and are not constrained by finances or policy barriers from doing so. This suggests new avenues for policy interventions that can help individuals better visualize the opportunity costs of not moving, alleviate their uncertainties, and help shift their default behavior from not migrating. JEL Codes: F22, O15 Keywords: international migration, internal migration, constraints on movement, uncertainty, status quo bias. The World Bank Research Observer © 2023 . International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. Published by Oxford University Press [https://doi.org/10.1093/wbro/lkac009](https://doi.org/10.1093/wbro/lkac009) 39:75–96 Downloaded from [https://academic.oup.com/wbro/article/39/1/75/6982896 by World Bank and IMF user on 02 February 2024](https://academic.oup.com/wbro/article/39/1/75/6982896 by World Bank and IMF user on 02 February 2024) Introduction I spent most of my childhood in the small town of Huntly, New Zealand. I remember clearly that there used to be a sign at the entrance of the town that said something like “Welcome to Huntly, population 6,238 and growing,”1 and that after a while, they removed the “and growing” from the sign. The town was surrounded by rural farmland (there was a farm over our back fence) . The main industry in town was a coal-mine and a power station that used the coal to generate thermal energy, with the two big smoking chimneys from the power plant the largest landmarks in town. Fast forward to today, and the population is still only 8,030 (June 2020 estimate), the median personal income of NZ$24,500 (US$17,253) is 40 percent less than the NZ$34,400 (US$24,225)2 in the Auckland region to which I later moved, and the local high school (where my father taught) had its enrolment fall from over 600 students in the 1980s to only 204 students in 2020 . In 2019, Huntly was voted New Zealand’s worst town in one online poll.3 From this description it would seem obvious that most people would want to move from such a place. Yet when the time came to move to Auckland, I cried. There were many things I liked about living there—playing soccer on a foggy field by the lake, running about on the farm, my friends, and the familiarity of our house and backyard. Leaving all these behind to start afresh in a new place seemed scary and uncertain. But move we did, and after going to high school and doing my undergraduate degree in Auckland, I was instead firmly attached to this new home. But then a new opportunity was open to me—the chance to move to America for graduate school. Not only would moving to a new country of

FAQs

Why does the document say so few people migrate despite large potential gains?

It highlights misinformation about migration benefits, liquidity constraints, and high moving costs and policy barriers as key economic constraints that limit movement.

What does the document mean by “Fears and Tears”?

“Fears and Tears” refers to psychological uncertainty about moving to a new place and the emotional tears people shed, linked to uncertainty and attachment to existing locations.

How can policy respond according to the document’s argument?

Policy should inform people about opportunity costs of not moving, alleviate uncertainties, and help shift behavior away from a default of not migrating.

Jul 19, 2026

Upload by Finn