Intra-European Migration and Regional Development: Spain and Portugal

Abstract

This comparative study of return migration and development in Andalusia and the Algarve indicates that unless the governments of the Mediterranean become more attuned to problems of political economy at the regional level there is no real possibility of reversing the persistent imbalance in the regional distribution of jobs and income. Since 1959 emigration was consciously incorporated into Spains stabilization plans as a means of easing unemployment and acquiring badly needed foreign currencies. The role of migrants remittances in Spains balance of international payments has been remarkable; remittances combined with tourist earnings between 1968 and 1972 repeatedly exceeded the countrys trade deficits by large margins. Until 1971 the Portuguese government pursued a more restrictive emigration policy than that of Spain. The fragile structure of Spanish and Portugese development and its direct linkage to external factors became dramatically evident between 1974 and 1977; Spains out-migration to European destinations decreased from 96100 in 1973 to a low of 11300 in 1977. In Andalusia the traditional imbalance has actually increased as result of emigration while in the Algarve region emigration has produced more mixed results. Contrasts between the 2 regions are based upon the structural differences between a land-based peasantry in Portugal and a wage-earning rural proletariat in Spain. While migration has resulted in the physical improvement of thousands of communities it has done little to change the basic economic or social structures that were responsible for migration. While crying out against the injustices of migration both the Spanish and Portuguese realize that its reduction or stoppage has had negative effects upon already shaky economies creating less favorable trade balances falling growth rates and increasing inflationary and unemployment pressures.