Abstract
The main deficiency of the current literature on the determinants of migration is the large gap between theoretical analyses and empirical applications. If no direct link is established between a theoretical model and its empirical specification, the empirical results cannot, validate the model. This paper develops a version of the human capital model of migration which permits empirical specification. The human capital model presented incorporates two important concepts from migration theory: (1) an index of characteristics that uniquely define a specific location; and (2) location-specific human capital. The empirical model is estimated with a data set consisting of a number of cases from the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) survey.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bowles, S., “Migration as Investments: Empirical Tests of the Human Capital Investment Approach to Geographical Mobility,”Review of Economics and Statistics, 52, 1970, pp. 356–362.
DaVanzo, J., “Repeat Migration in the United States: Who Moves Back and Who Moves On?”Review of Economics and Statistics, 65, 1983, pp. 552–559.
DaVanzo, J. and P. A. Morrison, “Return and Other Sequences of Migration in the United States,”Demography, 18, 1981, pp. 85–101.
David, P. A., “Fortune, Risk, and the Microeconomics of Migration,” in: P. A. David and M. W. Reder (eds.),Nations and Households in Economic Growth, Academic Press, New York, 1974, pp. 21–88.
Haley, W. J., “Estimation of the Earnings Profile from Optimal Human Capital Accumulation,”Econometrica, 44, 1976, pp. 1223–1238.
Kamien, M. I. and N. L. Schwartz,Dynamic Optimization: The Calculus of Variations and Optimal Control in Economics and Management, North Holland, New York, 1981.
Mincer, J., “Family Migration Decisions,”The Journal of Political Economy, 86, 1978, pp. 749–773.
Miron, J. R., “Job Search Perspectives on Migration Behavior,”Environment and Planning A, 10, 1978, pp. 519–535.
Polachek, S. W. and F. W. Horvath, “A Life Cycle Approach to Migration: Analysis of the Perspicacious Peregrinator,” in: R. G. Ehrenberg (ed.),Research in Labor Economics, JAI Press, Greenwich, 1977, pp. 103–149.
Schaeffer, P., “Human Capital Accumulation and Job Mobility,”Journal of Regional Science, 25, 1985, pp. 103–114.
Schwartz, A., “Interpreting the Effect of Distance on Migration,”The Journal of Political Economy, 81, 1973, pp. 1153–1169.
Sjaastad, L. A., “The Costs and Returns of Human Migration,”The Journal of Political Economy, 70, 1962, pp. S80-S93.
Survey Research Center,A Panel Study of Income Dynamics: Procedures and Tape Codes: 1976 Interviewing Year (Wave IX), Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1977.
Survey Research Center,A Panel Study of Income Dynamics: Procedures and Tape Codes: 1977 Interviewing Year (Wave X), Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1978.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dierx, A.H. Estimation of a human capital model of migration. Ann Reg Sci 22, 99–110 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01283655
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01283655