Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to bring new insights to some of the conflicting findings in the migration lietrature about developing countries by using detailed analyses of Turkish migration data. The possible reasons behind inconsistencies in the findings are explained in terms of spatial and temporal characteristics of the data, and by natiional macro factors (mainly the level of urbanization and the characteristics of the urban systems). Tested were ruiral out-migration and push factors; changes in the size of the rural-to-urban and urban-to-rural return migration; the effect of distance; and the share and effect of rural-to-urban migration in the urban growth and in the unbalanced popualtion distribution in developing countries.