Migration: Drivers and Impacts
This research group currently covers the work of the new Centre of Expertise on Population and Migration (CEPAM) that was established as a collaboration between IIASA and JRC. This reflects also a continuation of earlier migration research at VID. This group has made a major contribution by coming up with the first estimation of such a flow matrix including all countries in the world by applying Bayesian methods to existing migrant stock data.
This research group is specifically dedicated to the study of migration trends and their consequences on both sending and receiving countries. Quantitative methods are used to develop new policy relevant knowledge. The focus is on both the development of new methods and the application of demographic modelling to research questions that can be nested within the following broad themes:
a) Quantitative analysis of migration flows, their determinants, trends and patterns with a special focus on migration to the EU from Africa and Western Asia.
b) Analysis of migration push and pull factors and barriers and development of alternative future scenarios on them.
c) Development of dynamic models of alternative migration scenarios to better understand alternative policy options in response to expected future demographic shifts.
d) Analysis of the consequences of alternative immigration scenarios on receiving countries, not only in demographic terms, but also in economic and socio-cultural terms.
The Wittgenstein Centre aspires to be a world leader in the advancement of demographic methods and their application to the analysis of human capital and population dynamics. In assessing the effects of these forces on long-term human well-being, we combine scientific excellence in a multidisciplinary context with relevance to a global audience. It is a collaboration among the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the University of Vienna.