Can migration solve income inequality problem?
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Abstract
Income inequality is one of the serious threats to many developing countries. Income inequality causes public concern because it leads to crime, disease, and environmental degradation. The United Nations considered this issue as one of its top priorities and included income inequality as one if its strategic sustainable development goals. When considering income disparity between regions, one common solution is migration from low-income regions to highincome regions, hoping for a better life. The governments also support this solution through the elimination of the administrative process of relocation. The effectiveness of using a migration to solve income inequality is still in doubt. Research is required to prove or disprove it. This research aims to examine the effectiveness of migration in solving the income inequality problem. Such issue is complicated as there are many related factors and stakeholders. In addition, the impact of migration on income inequality does not happen immediately. The effect takes a significant amount of time to arise. In order to deal with this complexity, a system dynamics approach was used to create a simulated situation. This simulation was then used to analyze the impact of migration and the impact of other factors on income inequality. The results show that migration can reduce income inequality as expected. When adjusting the level of migration, however, we found that the changes to income inequality were minor. It shows that although migration can reduce the income inequality problem, it is not an effective measure when used alone. In order to solve an income inequality problem, migration must be supported by other policies as well.
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