Independent and linked migration: Individual return of employment opportunity and household return of poverty status to African American interstate migration

The thrust of this study is to describe and contrast the determinants and outcomes of African-American interstate migration. We examine two types of migration outcomes – individual return to employment probability and household level return to poverty status. We investigate these motivations and outcomes based on a new typology of migration through the lens of household change that accompanies migration. We specify a pairwise two-stage probit model incorporating individual and state-level variables using Public Use Micro Sample data and various ecological data in the US. We show that independent migrants move to other states envisioning economic models of migration with migration as a derived response to opportunities, pressures, and constraints imposed by spatial inequalities in socioeconomic development. On the other hand, we demonstrate that linked migrants move to other states also for their economic need, but via kinship. In this case, the linked migrants' path does not follow the general pattern of economic circumstances. We show that household composition is an important factor that influences the destination choice for African Americans. While independent migrants are more concerned with diverse economic conditions at destinations, kinship, other ties and household structure at destinations are more significant factors for linked migrants. Received: June 2000/Accepted: June 2001     

Explaining inter‐provincial migration in China

China's growth has led to massive flows of migrants. To analyse the determinants of inter‐provincial migration hypotheses from the classical migration theory, the new economic geography, gravity approach, and the new economics of labour migration have been derived. All traditional assumptions could be confirmed. Inter‐provincial differentials of urban poverty and differentials in inequality do matter. Inequality is regarded as opportunity and motivation to move. The analysis of push‐pull factors of gross migration suggests that pull factors are average wages, unemployment rates, urbanization and income disparity. Urban poverty can be regarded as a counter‐pull factor. Rural poverty and average wage are push factors.     

Voting with your feet in the United Kingdom: Using cross-migration rates to estimate relative living standards

This article reexamines and extends the literature on the use of migration rates to estimate compensating differentials as measures of regional quality of life. I estimate an interregional migration regression for the UK and use the results to measure regional quality of life and standard of living. The results suggest a North-South divide within England, and that Scotland and Wales have relatively high levels of both. The results also lead to a rejection of regional standard-of-living e quivalence (long-run regional equilibrium) in the UK. Received: August 1998 / Accepted: January 2000     

Inter‐provincial migration and 1975–2005 regional growth in Indonesia

Migration has been seen as an important issue in regional development worldwide. This study analyses the impact of internal migration on provincial growth in Indonesia. Applying a growth model, this study found evidence that migration played no role on regional convergence during the 1975–2005 period. However, different policies affected the signs and sizes of the estimates across sub‐periods. Moreover, inter‐provincial migration, especially in‐migration in poorer provinces, had a positive impact on economic growth in Indonesia.     

Spatial scale, return and onward migration, and the Long-Boertlein index of repeat migration

Abstract.  Long and Boertlein's (1990 ) measure of repeat migration can be used to infer the effects of repeat migration with data sets that did not specifically ask questions about such migration. While recent work by Rogers et al. (2003 ) evaluated how well this synthetic measure matched empirical fixed-interval measures, the role of spatial scale remains unclear, particularly since scale influences migration levels, spatial structure, and the representation of the primary, return, and onward migration components within the overall flow. Motivated by the implementation of the American Community Survey and the concurrent need to adjust data from one to five-year formats, and using the 1996 Canadian Public Use Microdata File and a custom tabulation from the 1996 Canadian census, the accuracy of the index is evaluated. In particular, the effects of spatial scale upon measures of primary, return and onward migration are described and evaluated, with the Long-Boertlein measure contrasted with fixed-interval measures of return and onward migration. Results show that the measure is sensitive to spatial scale.     

Internal migration and wages of Italian university graduates*

In this paper, we estimate wage gains due to geographic mobility of Italian university graduates three years after graduation. By means of a matching procedure we quantify wage premia associated with the choice of studying far from home, moving after graduation and moving back home after graduation. We find evidence of large heterogeneity in the returns to different migration patterns. The results show large gains for those who move after graduation and smaller gains for those who migrate to study. Conversely, those who choose to go back home after having studied in regions different from that of origin suffer small losses. Our findings are robust to a finer definition of mobility and to the subsample of individuals originating from the South.     

Spatial patterns and determinants of skilled internal migration in China, 2000–2005

This paper examines the spatial patterns and determinants of China's interprovincial skilled migration by using data from 2005 one per cent population sample survey. While the coastal region benefits from the influx of skilled labour, the rest of China suffers from severe brain drain. Estimates from zero‐inflated negative binomial gravity models indicate that employment opportunities, especially interregional wage differentials, play a dominant role in attracting skilled labour, and that the impact of amenities on skilled migration turns out to be small and less clear. Findings suggest that China's skilled people prioritize their career prospects over the quality of life in the migration decision‐making process.     

Learning mobility grants and skill (mis)matching in the labour market: The case of the ‘Master and Back’ Programme

This paper looks at the geographical mobility of graduate students and their skill matching in the labour market. The paper assesses the impact of a learning mobility grant scheme funded by the European Social Fund in Sardinia (ex‐Objective 1 region in the Italian Mezzogiorno). The scheme aims to foster regional human capital and increase the employability of local graduates by covering the cost of post‐graduate studies in other regions or countries. The econometric analysis is based on a unique dataset that combines administrative data on beneficiaries with information from a dedicated survey. The results suggest that learning mobility grants can reinforce skill matching only if the problem of self‐selection of the beneficiaries is properly addressed.     

Land tenure insecurity and rural‐urban migration in rural China

This paper examines the impact of land tenure security perceptions on rural‐urban migration decisions of rural households, using data collected in Minle County in Northwest China. We find that tenure security perceptions play a significant role in household migration decisions in villages without well‐functioning land rental markets but not in villages where the land rental markets are more developed. In villages with underdeveloped land rental markets, households that expect that no land reallocations will occur within their village in the near future are less involved in migration, while households that attach a greater importance to land certificates in protecting land use rights are more involved in migration.     

Crossing boundaries and borders: Regional science advances in migration modelling

Abstract. In this article we survey common themes in recent migration research and comment on the actual and potential contribution of regional science to this literature. There has been a marked shift in research from internal to international migration. The two research programmes would benefit from a unified framework. Spatial and systemic features of migration systems remain underdeveloped. Moreover, the perspectives from the different disciplines that intersect in regional science can still be integrated better. Communication of the research findings in terms understood by policymakers and practitioners is also desirable. Finally, many new and interesting research topics will emerge when greater effort is made to link migration research with other current research topics in regional science.     

Migration and regional labor market adjustment: Chile 1977–1982 and 1987–1992

The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the migration processes that have been occurring in Chile between 1977–1982 and 1987–1992, as a market mechanism to re-allocate labor among regions. Using traditional consumer theory, a model is developed for a migrant who is evaluating migration. Secondly, this model is estimated, with cross section aggregate data, for both periods using a logit formulation. The results indicate that there is a strong force in the Chilean regional labor market, which serves to concentrate the workforce around the largest populated region of the country. Finally, regional labor markets are simulated to show that migration forces are very weak to arbitrage regional wages and unemployment rate and specific policy is required to promote balanced development across Chilean regions. Received: January 1999/Accepted: August 2001     

Inferring migration flows from the migration propensities of infants: Mexico and Indonesia

The need for methods of indirectly estimating migration flows is particularly important in developing countries, where migration data are often incomplete and inaccurate. This paper focuses on the use of an indirect internal migration estimation method applied to Mexican and Indonesian census data. It shows that the mobility propensities of infants can be used to infer the corresponding propensities of all other age groups. However, the promise of this method is reduced in instances of inadequate data, and great care must be taken to identify outlying values in the data and to correct obviously erroneous patterns. Future work increasingly will be directed to this issue.     

Social networks and regional recruitment of foreign labour: Firm recruitment methods and spatial sorting in Denmark*

This paper tests the hypothesis that social networks are crucial for regional recruitment and inflows of foreign labour. New survey data on 971 firms located in Region Southern Denmark show that the predominant recruitment method of foreign labour was through networks. Danish municipal data from 1997–2006 furthermore reveal spatial sorting since initial shares of employees with a foreign background out of total regional employment predict foreign labour inflow rates to regional employment. Thus, social networks appear crucial for the recruitment and inflows of foreign labour, suggesting that employee referrals and information about vacancies in local job markets are also important for foreign labour. Resumen Este artículo pone a prueba la hipótesis de que las redes sociales son cruciales para la contratación regional y los flujos de mano de obra extranjera. Nuevos datos de una encuesta sobre 971 empresas ubicadas en la Región de Dinamarca Meridional muestran que el método de contratación predominante de mano de obra extranjera fue a través de redes. Datos municipales daneses de 1997‐2006 revelan además una clasificación espacial, ya que las cuotas iniciales de empleados de origen extranjero respecto del empleo regional total predicen tasas de afluencia de mano de obra extranjera para el empleo regional. Por tanto, las redes sociales parecen ser cruciales para el reclutamiento y la afluencia de mano de obra extranjera, lo cual sugiere que las referencias de los empleados y la información sobre ofertas de empleo en los mercados laborales locales son también importantes para la mano de obra extranjera.