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Moving home again? Never! The locational choices of graduates in Sweden

Author

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  • Lina Bjerke

    (Jönköping International Business School)

  • Charlotta Mellander

    (Jönköping International Business School)

Abstract

Two major challenges in Europe’s rural areas are an aging population and the diminishing share of human capital. While this pattern has been occurring for a long time, the effects are becoming acutely visible and impactful. The long-term loss of younger individuals has in many ways “drained” the labor market and the economic market power of rural areas. This is the context of our research: the locational choice of university graduates from an urban–rural perspective. Using micro data covering the entire Swedish population, we identify all university graduates from the year 2001. We analyze them with respect to whether they live in a rural or urban region before starting university and where they live after graduation at two points in time: 5 and 10 years. We use a series of multinomial logit regressions to determine what factors affect their short-term and long-term choices of location. We find that having children is one of the most influential factors for moving back home after graduation, irrespective of type of region. We find only minor differences between the two time perspectives.

Suggested Citation

  • Lina Bjerke & Charlotta Mellander, 2017. "Moving home again? Never! The locational choices of graduates in Sweden," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 59(3), pages 707-729, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:anresc:v:59:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s00168-016-0777-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s00168-016-0777-2
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    Cited by:

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    3. Jeworrek, Sabrina & Brachert, Matthias, 2022. "Where to go? High-skilled individuals' regional preferences," IWH Discussion Papers 27/2022, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    4. van Vuuren, Aico, 2022. "Is there a diminishing value of urban amenities as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic?," Working Papers in Economics 818, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    5. Arthur Grimes & Shaan Badenhorst & David C. Maré & Jacques Poot, 2020. "Hometown wh?nau or big city millennials? The economic geography of graduate destination choices in New Zealand," Working Papers 20_04, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    6. Bekhtiar, Karim, 2024. "Robotization, Internal Migration and Rural Decline," VfS Annual Conference 2024 (Berlin): Upcoming Labor Market Challenges 302396, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Margarida Rodrigues & Cidália Oliveira & MárioFranco & Ana Daniel, 2024. "A Bibliometric Study About the Rural Creative Class: Proposal of a Conceptual Framework and Future Agenda," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 15278-15303, September.
    8. Nyström, Kristina, 2020. "Recruitment of scarce competences to rural regions: Policies to promote recruitment," Ratio Working Papers 341, The Ratio Institute.
    9. Kristina Nyström, 2021. "Recruitment of scarce competences to rural regions: Policy perspectives," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 41(2), pages 211-227, October.
    10. van Vuuren, Aico, 2023. "Is there a diminishing willingness to pay for consumption amenities as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    11. Arthur Grimes & Shaan Badenhorst & David C. Maré & Jacques Poot & Isabelle Sin, 2023. "Quality of life, quality of business, and destinations of recent graduates: fields of study matter," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 70(1), pages 55-80, February.
    12. Vedran Živanović & Marko Joksimović & Rajko Golić & Vladimir Malinić & Filip Krstić & Marko Sedlak & Aleksandar Kovjanić, 2022. "Depopulated and Abandoned Areas in Serbia in the 21st Century—From a Local to a National Problem," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-20, August.
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    14. Ida Lovén & Cecilia Hammarlund & Martin Nordin, 2020. "Staying or leaving? The effects of university availability on educational choices and rural depopulation," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(5), pages 1339-1365, October.

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    JEL classification:

    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General

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