Identifying and Assessing Third Stage Migration Network Theory:.

Migration network theory (MNT) cannot explain why Mexican immigrants in the United States have increasingly opted to settle in non-traditional destinations. A newly emerging third stage MNT accounts for municipal economic factors, thereby enabling explanation of the wide-spread appearance and growth of new migrant communities. This paper amplifies, specifies, and empirically assesses third stage MNT. Following hypothesis deduction, quantitative methods are used to investigate settlement out of and away from non-traditional destination as reflected in the 5% PUMS US Census data. Of key importance is a multi-level statistical model fit to a specially constructed dataset that merges metropolitan-level data from the 1990 Census with individual-level migration behavior data from a five year period recorded in the 2000 census. Findings provide support for the third stage MNT argument that local municipal economic conditions are a factor influencing Mexican immigrants in the United States to shift their migration behavior out of and away from traditional to new settlement destinations. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]