IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jregsc/v48y2008i4p769-788.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Migration And Self‐Selection: Measured Earnings And Latent Characteristics

Author

Listed:
  • Robert A. Nakosteen
  • Olle Westerlund
  • Michael Zimmer

Abstract

ABSTRACT Research in regional and labor economics has established that economic incentives play a significant role in the process of internal migration. The most common approach is to view migration as a form of human capital investment undertaken by individuals who expect to benefit from the standpoint of increased earnings. One of the central concepts in these models is self‐selection. Individuals who self‐select the option of migration tend to differ from the nonmigrant population in ways that are not measured in most data sets. The contribution of this paper is in its distinction between two aspects of migrant selection. On one hand, some workers possess unmeasured traits that might simultaneously affect their wages and their propensity to engage in risky human capital investment such as migration. On the other hand, measured earnings might exert a direct effect on migration. Based on samples of employed Swedish males and females at two points in time, this study seeks first to examine whether migration between the two periods occurs in the presence of correlation between unmeasured factors present in both earnings during the first period and the subsequent decision to migrate. Second, it looks for an explicit role of earnings per se in the migration decision. Results of the study provide support for selection based on unmeasured traits for both genders. For females, there is also evidence of selection based on measured earnings.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert A. Nakosteen & Olle Westerlund & Michael Zimmer, 2008. "Migration And Self‐Selection: Measured Earnings And Latent Characteristics," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 769-788, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jregsc:v:48:y:2008:i:4:p:769-788
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9787.2008.00576.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9787.2008.00576.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-9787.2008.00576.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hausman, Jerry A & Wise, David A, 1979. "Attrition Bias in Experimental and Panel Data: The Gary Income Maintenance Experiment," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(2), pages 455-473, March.
    2. Gary L. Hunt & Richard E. Mueller, 2004. "North American Migration: Returns to Skill, Border Effects, and Mobility Costs," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(4), pages 988-1007, November.
    3. Larry A. Sjaastad, 1970. "The Costs and Returns of Human Migration," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Harry W. Richardson (ed.), Regional Economics, chapter 9, pages 115-133, Palgrave Macmillan.
    4. Jeffrey Yankow, 1999. "The Wage Dynamics of Internal Migration within the United States," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 25(3), pages 265-278, Summer.
    5. Ashenfelter, Orley C, 1978. "Estimating the Effect of Training Programs on Earnings," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 60(1), pages 47-57, February.
    6. Chris Robinson & Nigel Tomes, 1982. "Self-Selection and Interprovincial Migration in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 15(3), pages 474-502, August.
    7. Heckman, J.J. & Hotz, V.J., 1988. "Choosing Among Alternative Nonexperimental Methods For Estimating The Impact Of Social Programs: The Case Of Manpower Training," University of Chicago - Economics Research Center 88-12, Chicago - Economics Research Center.
    8. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    9. Paul E. Gabriel & Susanne Schmitz, 1995. "Favorable Self-Selection and the Internal Migration of Young White Males in the United States," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 30(3), pages 460-471.
    10. Borjas, George J. & Bronars, Stephen G. & Trejo, Stephen J., 1992. "Self-selection and internal migration in the United States," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 159-185, September.
    11. Robert Nakosteen & Olle Westerlund, 2004. "The effects of regional migration on gross income of labour in Sweden," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 83(3), pages 581-595, July.
    12. Fredriksson, Peter, 1999. "The Dynamics of Regional Labor Markets and Active Labor Market Policy: Swedish Evidence," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 51(4), pages 623-648, October.
    13. Finnie, Ross, 2001. "The Effects of Inter-provincial Mobility on Individuals' Earnings: Panel Model Estimates for Canada," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2001163e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    14. Evangelos M. Falaris, 1988. "Migration and Wages of Young Men," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 23(4), pages 514-534.
    15. Ross Finnie, 2004. "Who moves? A logit model analysis of inter-provincial migration in Canada," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(16), pages 1759-1779.
    16. Tunali, Insan, 2000. "Rationality of Migration," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 41(4), pages 893-920, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Petri Böckerman & Mika Haapanen, 2013. "The effect of polytechnic reform on migration," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(2), pages 593-617, April.
    2. Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose & Vassilis Tselios, 2010. "Returns to migration, education and externalities in the European Union," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(2), pages 411-434, June.
    3. Ng, Kar Yee & Said, Rusmawati, 2015. "The Role of Labour Standards in Shaping Migration: The ASEAN Perspectives," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 49(2), pages 3-15.
    4. Klaus Nowotny, 2011. "Welfare Magnets, Taxation and the Location Decisions of Migrants to the EU," ERSA conference papers ersa11p133, European Regional Science Association.
    5. Christopher Goetz, 2014. "Unemployment Duration And Geographic Mobility: Do Movers Fare Better Than Stayers?," Working Papers 14-41, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    6. Dijk, J. van & Broersma, L. & Edzes, A.J.E. & Venhorst, V.A, 2011. "Brain drain of brain gain? Hoger opgeleiden in grote steden in Nederland," Research Reports vavenhorst, University of Groningen, Urban and Regional Studies Institute (URSI).
    7. Sergii TROSHCHENKOV, 2016. "Return to Commuting Distance in Sweden," Departmental Working Papers 2016-08, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    8. Maria Abreu & Alessandra Faggian & Philip McCann, 2011. "Migration and inter-industry mobility of UK graduates: Effect on earnings and career satisfaction," ERSA conference papers ersa11p118, European Regional Science Association.
    9. Petri Böckerman & Mika Haapanen, 2013. "Does higher education enhance migration?," Working Papers 287, Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, The Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE.
    10. Nejad, Maryam Naghsh & Schurer, Stefanie, 2022. "Cognitive and non-cognitive abilities of immigrants: New perspectives on migrant quality from a selective immigration country," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 107-124.
    11. Philippe Lemistre & Marie-Benoit Magrini, 2011. "Job Qualification, Distance between Towns and Geographical Relocation for French Youth," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(10), pages 2141-2161, August.
    12. Venhorst, V. & Cörvers, F., 2015. "Entry into working life: Spatial mobility and the job match quality of higher-educated graduates," ROA Research Memorandum 003, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    13. Peter Huber & Klaus Nowotny & Julia Bock-Schappelwein, 2010. "Qualification Structure, Over- and Under-qualification of the Foreign Born in Austria and the EU," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 41226.
    14. Kent Eliasson & Robert Nakosteen & Olle Westerlund & Michael Zimmer, 2014. "All in the family: Self-selection and migration by couples," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(1), pages 101-124, March.
    15. Kevin Thomas, 2012. "Migration Processes, Familial Characteristics, and Schooling Dropout Among Black Youths," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(2), pages 477-498, May.
    16. Böckerman, Petri & Haapanen, Mika, 2010. "The effect of education on migration: Evidence from school reform," MPRA Paper 27629, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Ruben Hernandez-Murillo & Lesli S. Ott & Michael T. Owyang & Denise Whalen, 2011. "Patterns of interstate migration in the United States from the survey of income and program participation," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 93(May), pages 169-186.
    18. Klaus Nowotny, 2011. "AFLA – Arbeitskräftemobilität und Fachkräftebedarf nach der Liberalisierung des österreichischen Arbeitsmarktes. Migrations- und Pendelpotentiale nach Ende der Übergangsfristen für die Arbeitskräftefr," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 41563.
    19. Ryan M. Gallagher & Joseph Persky, 2020. "Heterogeneity of birth‐state effects on internal migration," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(3), pages 517-537, June.
    20. repec:mpr:mprres:6984 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Michael Landesmann & Mario Liebensteiner & Robert Stehrer, 2010. "Migrants and Economic Performance in the EU15: their allocations across countries, industries and job types and their (productivity) growth impacts at the sectoral and regional levels," FIW Research Reports series II-009, FIW.
    22. Kentaro Nakajima & Ryosuke Okamoto, 2014. "Measuring the sorting effect of migration on spatial wage disparities," GRIPS Discussion Papers 14-19, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
    23. repec:wsr:ecbook:2010:i:ii-008 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Wolfgang Maennig & Matthias Ottmann, 2011. "Perspektiven des deutschen Immobilienmarktes und wirtschaftspolitische Herausforderungen," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 12(2), pages 192-214, May.
    25. Klaus Nowotny & Robert Hierländer, 2009. "FAMO – Fachkräftemonitoring. Regelmäßige Erhebung des Angebots und des Bedarfs an Fachkräften in der Grenzregion Ostösterreichs mit der Slowakei. FAMO I: Migrations- und Pendelpotentiale in Wien und d," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 37422.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ham, John C. & Li, Xianghong & Reagan, Patricia B., 2011. "Matching and semi-parametric IV estimation, a distance-based measure of migration, and the wages of young men," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 161(2), pages 208-227, April.
    2. Venhorst, V. & Cörvers, F., 2015. "Entry into working life: Spatial mobility and the job match quality of higher-educated graduates," ROA Research Memorandum 003, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    3. Ng, Kar Yee & Said, Rusmawati, 2015. "The Role of Labour Standards in Shaping Migration: The ASEAN Perspectives," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 49(2), pages 3-15.
    4. Rosa Sanchis-Guarner & Enrique Lopez-Bazo, 2006. "Are Skilled Workers More Attracted to Economic Agglomerations?," ERSA conference papers ersa06p120, European Regional Science Association.
    5. John C. Ham & Xianghong Li & Patricia B. Reagan, 2004. "Propensity Score Matching, a Distance-Based Measure of Migration, and the Wage Growth of Young Men," Working Papers 2004_3, York University, Department of Economics.
    6. Consuelo Abellán-Colodrón, 1998. "Ganancia salarial esperada como determinante de la decisión individual de emigrar," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 22(1), pages 93-117, January.
    7. Chung Choe & E. LaBrent Chrite, 2014. "Internal Migration of Blacks in South Africa: An Application of the Roy Model," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 82(1), pages 81-98, March.
    8. Jeroen Smits, 2001. "Career Migration, Self-selection and the Earnings of Married Men and Women in the Netherlands, 1981-93," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 38(3), pages 541-562, March.
    9. Boheim, Rene & Taylor, Mark P., 2007. "From the dark end of the street to the bright side of the road? The wage returns to migration in Britain," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 99-117, January.
    10. Di Cintio, Marco & Grassi, Emanuele, 2010. "Internal Migration and Wage Differentials among Italian University Graduates," MPRA Paper 26707, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Andrea Cutillo & Claudio Ceccarelli, 2010. "The internal relocation premium: are migrants positively or negatively selected? Evidence from Italy," Working Papers in Public Economics 137, Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Roma.
    12. Böckerman, Petri & Haapanen, Mika, 2010. "The effect of education on migration: Evidence from school reform," MPRA Paper 27629, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Michaelides, Marios, 2011. "The effect of local ties, wages, and housing costs on migration decisions," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 132-140, April.
    14. Christian Bayer & Falko Juessen, 2012. "On the Dynamics of Interstate Migration: Migration Costs and Self-Selection," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 15(3), pages 377-401, July.
    15. Philippe Lemistre & Nicolas Moreau, 2009. "Spatial Mobility And Returns To Education: Some Evidence From A Sample Of French Youth," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 149-176, February.
    16. Jens Ruhose, 2015. "Microeconometric Analyses on Economic Consequences of Selective Migration," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 61.
    17. Robert Nakosteen & Michael Zimmer, 2017. "Marriage dissolution among American men, 2003–2010: The roles of measured earnings and latent selection," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1348327-134, January.
    18. Emmler, Julian & Fitzenberger, Bernd, 2020. "The role of unemployment and job change when estimating the returns to migration," IAB-Discussion Paper 202037, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    19. Emmler, Julian & Fitzenberger, Bernd, 2020. "The Role of Unemployment and Job Change When Estimating the Returns to Migration," IZA Discussion Papers 13740, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Dijk, J. van & Broersma, L. & Edzes, A.J.E. & Venhorst, V.A, 2011. "Brain drain of brain gain? Hoger opgeleiden in grote steden in Nederland," Research Reports vavenhorst, University of Groningen, Urban and Regional Studies Institute (URSI).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jregsc:v:48:y:2008:i:4:p:769-788. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0022-4146 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.