title

'THE EFFECT OF EXPECTED INCOME ON INDIVIDUAL MIGRATION DECISIONS'

author

'John Kennan and James R. Walker'

url

'http://www.jstor.org/stable/41057441'

abstract

'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.'

journal

'Econometrica'

year

'2011'

Undefined

'00129682, 14680262'

'1'

'211--251'

'[Wiley, Econometric Society]'

'79'