Friendship Ties and Geographical Mobility: Evidence from the Bhps

39 Pages Posted: 31 Jul 2006 Last revised: 17 Nov 2021

See all articles by Michèle Belot

Michèle Belot

University of Oxford - Nuffield Department of Medicine

John Ermisch

University of Oxford; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Abstract

A common finding in analyses of geographic mobility is a strong association between past movement and current mobility, a phenomenon that has given rise to the so called ‘mover-stayer model’. We argue in this paper that one of the driving forces behind this heterogeneity is the strength of local social ties. We use data from the BHPS on the location of the three closest friends and the frequency of contacts. We estimate the processes of friendship formation and residential mobility jointly, allowing for correlation between the two processes. Our results show that the location of the closest friends matters substantially in the mobility decision, and matters more than the frequency of contacts.

Keywords: friendship formation, social ties, geographical mobility

JEL Classification: J61, Z13

Suggested Citation

Belot, Michèle V. K. and Ermisch, John F., Friendship Ties and Geographical Mobility: Evidence from the Bhps. IZA Discussion Paper No. 2209, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=921043

Michèle V. K. Belot

University of Oxford - Nuffield Department of Medicine ( email )

New Road
Oxford, OX1 1NF
United Kingdom

John F. Ermisch (Contact Author)

University of Oxford ( email )

Manor Road
Oxford, OX2
United Kingdom

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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