Świerczyńska Katarzyna,

Poznan University of Economics,

Poznań, Poland,

E-mail: katarzyna.swierczynska@ue.poznan.pl

AFRICAN EMIGRATION TO EUROPE: SOCIAL COHESION AND INEQUALITY NEXUS

Kliber Agata,

Poznan University of Economics,

Poznań, Poland,

E-mail: agata.kliber@ue.poznan.pl

Abstract. An important aspect of the nexus between social cohesion and inequality currently discussed in both media and academia is the phenomenon of migrations. There are two sides of this coin. The first one represents the inequality-driven outflow of people from low- and middle-income countries. The second one is the selection of destination countries by migrants. Why more and more people from Africa tend to choose the same specific countries? This research adds to the existing literature by offering the analysis of economic and social context from both perspectives. The contribution of this paper is as follows. First, it aims to fill in the lacuna in the analysis of inequality driven migration in the perspective of the country of origin and host country. We found that emigration is driven by inequality, but it is also reflected in the positive outbound of social cohesion, which may contribute to economic development. We found, that if the change of poverty level is permanent, we can expect that in the long run the number of emigrants will double (ceteris paribus). Further, high-income countries with well-developed social security programs attract immigration flows. The conclusions of this study call for the development of comprehensive social policies to tackle the inequality issues and improve social cohesion in both sending and recipient countries, as migrations have an impact on both parties of this process.

Received: September, 2017

1st Revision: January, 2018

Accepted: February, 2018

DOI: 10.14254/2071-789X.2018/11-1/12

JEL Classification: N37, F22, O15

Keywords: migration, Sub-Saharan Africa, inequality, social cohesion, Europe