Some empirical evidence on the determinants of immigration from Fiji to New Zealand: 1970-94

This paper formulates and tests a model for migration from Fiji to New Zealand within the human capital framework using time-series data from 1970-94. The error-correction model, which appears to adequately characterise the data generation process, reveals that wage and unemployment differentials are statistically significant variables explaining permanent and long-term migration from Fiji to New Zealand. Equally important are the findings for the living standard differential between Fiji and New Zealand and Fiji’s political instability, while exhibiting the correct signs on their coefficients, these are not statistically significant variables in explaining permanent and long-term migration. The cost variable did not prove to be important in explaining migration from Fiji to New Zealand.