The Effect of Expected Income on Individual Migration Decisions
44 Pages Posted: 20 Mar 2003 Last revised: 11 Sep 2022
Date Written: March 2003
Abstract
The paper develops a tractable econometric model of optimal migration, focusing on expected income as the main economic influence on migration. The model improves on previous work in two respects: it covers optimal sequences of location decisions (rather than a single once-for-all choice), and it allows for many alternative location choices. The model is estimated using panel data from the NLSY on white males with a high school education. Our main conclusion is that interstate migration decisions are influenced to a substantial extent by income prospects. The results suggest that the link between income and migration decisions is driven both by geographic differences in mean wages and by a tendency to move in search of a better locational match when the income realization in the current location is unfavorable.
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
By Boyan Jovanovic and Glenn Macdonald
-
By Lucas Bretschger and Sjak Smulders
-
The Determinants of Firm Survival
By Rajshree Agarwal and Michael Gort
-
Localized Technological Knowledge: Pecuniary Knowledge Externalities and Appropriability
-
The Growth-Environment Trade-Off: Horizontal vs. Vertical Innovations
By Andre Grimaud and Francesco Ricci