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Title: The Effect of Expected Income on Individual Migration Decisions
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Kennan, John
Walker, James R.
The Effect of Expected Income on Individual Migration Decisions
Econometrica 79,1 (January 2011): 211-251.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3982/ECTA4657/abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing, Inc. => Wiley Online
Keyword(s): Economics, Demographic; High School Completion/Graduates; Income; Income Dynamics/Shocks; Income Level; Migration

This 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 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 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.
Bibliography Citation
Kennan, John and James R. Walker. "The Effect of Expected Income on Individual Migration Decisions." Econometrica 79,1 (January 2011): 211-251.