Transnationalism and integration: Complements or Substitutes?
Bram Dekker & Melissa Siegel
#2013-071
This paper investigates the relationship between transnational practices
and integration by testing whether they are substitutes or complements.
For this purpose, we use a multidimensional transnationalism index. The
index includes three dimensions of transnational practices, including
migrants' economic, political, and socio-cultural transnational
practices. These three dimensions and their aggregated index are then
compared to both structural and socio-cultural integration. The analysis
is based on data from 815 migrant households in the Netherlands,
gathered among first generation migrants from Morocco, Burundi, Ethiopia
and Afghanistan. Our results show that both structural and
socio-cultural integration provides tentative support for the
complementary typology. Lack of resources is significantly associated
with transnationalism, but does not act as a moderator of the
integration-transnationalism relationship. Among the four migrant groups
studied in this paper, being multi-dimensionally transnational is
associated with better structural and socio-cultural integration showing
a complementary relationship. Implications for policy are discussed.
JEL Classification: F22, Z1
Key words: migration, transnational migrants, integration, the
Netherlands, transnational practices