Sociologie

Samenvatting

This article assesses separately the push and pull factor explanation in Sassen’s theory of migration from newly industrialising countries to cities in OECD countries. The former explanation argues that foreign direct investments initiate migration flows to the country from where these investments stem from. The pull factor explanation revolves around demand for low-skilled workers in cities owing to the clustering of advanced producer services. It is found that Dutch investment flows indeed function as a push factor for migration to Dutch cities, but that the local settlement of immigrants is not related to the clustering of advanced producer services.