Point of Reference: A Multisited Exploration of African Migration and Fertility in France.

A considerable literature explores whether the fertility of migrants from high-fertility contexts converges with that of women in lower fertility destinations. Nonetheless, much of this research compares migrants' reproductive outcomes to those of native-born women in destination countries. Drawing on research emphasizing the importance of transnational perspectives, we standardize and integrate data collected in France (the destination) and in six high-fertility African countries (the senders). We show that African migrants in our sample had higher children ever born (CEB) than native French women but lower CEB than women in corresponding origin countries. These findings suggest that socialization into pronatalist norms is an incomplete explanation for migrant fertility in the first generation, an insight that is overlooked when analyzing destination settings only. Next, we conduct multivariate analyses that weight migrants' background characteristics to resemble women in both origin and destination countries. Findings indicate that observed differences between African migrants in France and women in African origin countries help explain differences in CEB between the two groups, which supports selection. We also demonstrate that African migrants in France had delayed transitions into first, second, and third births and lower completed fertility compared to women in origin countries, thus disputing the disruption hypothesis. Finally, we show that observed differences between African migrants in France and native French women explain differences in CEB between the two groups, which supports adaptation. These multifaceted findings on selection, disruption, and adaptation would be obscured by analyzing destination settings only, thus validating a multisited approach to migrant fertility.

International Migration and Modern Contraceptive Use: A Research Note on African Migrants to France.

This research note presents a multisited analysis of migration and contraceptive use by standardizing and integrating a sample of African migrants in France from six West and Central African countries in the Trajectoires et Origines survey with a sample of women living in the same six African countries in the Demographic and Health Surveys. Descriptive analyses indicate that the contraceptive use of migrants more closely aligns with that of native French women than with that of women from origin countries. In particular, migrants report dramatically higher use of long-acting reversible contraceptives and short-acting hormonal methods and lower use of traditional methods than do women in the countries of origin. Although migrants differ from women in the countries of origin on observed characteristics, including education and family background, reweighting women in the origin countries to resemble migrants on these characteristics does little to explain differences in contraceptive use between the groups. Given that contraceptive use is an important proximate determinant of fertility, our results suggest that contraceptive use should feature more prominently in the dominant demographic paradigms of migrant fertility.

Childhood Origins, Migration, and First Modern Contraceptive Use in Turkey.

This paper integrates contraception into the extant migrant-fertility framework using the case of internal migration within Turkey. Drawing from the 2013 Turkish Demographic and Health Survey data, we show that migration is positively associated with age of first modern contraceptive use. As women's migration is quickly followed by family formation, women also take up modern contraception after first childbirth, likely due to new encounters with medical professionals, differing contraceptive access and other social exposures. We also find that women whose childhoods were spent in urban areas have a higher risk of first modern contraception relative to women from rural areas, thus suggesting the enduring importance of socialization. These results show how selection processes, life-cycle factors, and sociocultural norms jointly shape modern contraceptive behavior in Turkey. Our results also demonstrate a need for increased reproductive care in rural areas and suggest continued fertility decline with urban migration.

Out of sync? Demographic and other social science research on health conditions in developing countries.

In this paper, we present a framework for considering whether the marginal social benefits of demographic and social science research on various health conditions in developing countries are likely to be relatively high. Based on this framework, we argue that the relative current and future predicted prevalence of burdens of different health/disease conditions, as measured by disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), provide a fairly accurate reflection of some important factors related to the relative marginal social benefits of demographic and social science research on different health conditions. World Health Organization (WHO) DALYs projections for 2005-30 are compared with (a) demographic and other social science studies on health in developing countries during 1990-2005, and (b) presentations made at the Population Association of America annual meetings during the same time period. These comparisons suggest that recent demographic and social science research on health in developing countries has focused too much on HIV/AIDS, and too little on non-communicable diseases.

On what diseases and health conditions should new economic research on health and development focus?

Given the public goods nature of research, economic research on health in developing countries is likely to have the highest returns by focusing, inter alia, on diseases and health conditions that are relatively widespread and costly and that are relatively rapidly growing. This article first summarizes the time patterns in economic research on diseases and health in developing countries for 1990-2005. It then compares those time patterns with the distribution of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for diseases and health conditions in developing countries estimated for 2005 and for 2030. These comparisons suggest relatively overemphasis on HIV/AIDS and underemphasis on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). This opens the possibility for individuals or organizations initiating, re-evaluating, or increasing their economic research on health and development to make a significant contribution by focusing particularly on the analysis of behaviour and policy choices related to NCDs. Careful consideration must, of course, be given to other demands, but on the basis of these two criteria, potential contributions are likely to be greatest from research with such a focus.