Determinants of Interregional Mobility in Russia: Evidence from Panel Data

Abstract

The paper studies determinants of internal migration in Russia. Using panel data on gross region-to-region migration flows in 1990-99, we estimate the effect of economic, political and social factors. Although overall migration is rather low, it turns out that its intensity does depend on economic factors even controlling for fixed effects for each origin-destination pair. People move from poorer and job scarce regions with poor public good provision to richer and prospering ones both in terms of employment prospects and public goods. Migration is however constrained by the lack of liquidity: for poorest regions, an increase in income raises rather than decreases outmigration. Geography is also important: elasticity of migration with regard to distance is close to one.

Keywords: internal migration, liquidity constraints, gravity model, Russia's transition

JEL Classification: P23, J61, P36, R23