98-J-5. Takenouchi, Masaki, "International Migration and the World Labour Market", March 1998.

Why have people in the "South" migrated to the "North" since the Second World War? Before the War, mass migration from the Third World to developed countries never occurred. It is no exaggeration to say that this is a main characteristic of the contemporary international migration. We have three aims in this paper. Firstly, taking into consideration this question, we investigate traditional theories of migration. We conclude these theories do not give us clues to answer it. We also review the explanation of migration by the world-system approach. Although it is useful in answering our question, we are still not satisfied with it. Secondly, we submit an alternative perspective on migration. The key concept is the Job/Labour/Reward Hierarchy on a World Scale. It provides the theoretical framework not only to answer our question, but also to explain some important characteristics of international migration. Thirdly, we outline the structural change of this hierarchy from the historical point of view to answer our question more concretely.