Environment, Land, and Rural Out-migration in the Southern Ecuadorian Andes

SummaryOut-migration, environmental degradation, and changes in land distribution are all key processes of rural transformation in the developing world, but few quantitative studies have investigated their interactions in migrant origin areas. This study uses survey data from the southern Ecuadorian Andes and an event history model to investigate the effects of land ownership and environmental conditions on out-migration to local, internal, and international destinations. The results indicate that the effects of land ownership and other factors differ strongly across migration streams. Also, negative environmental conditions and landlessness do not consistently increase out-migration as commonly assumed in the literature.