IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joprea/v39y2022i3d10.1007_s12546-022-09285-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Has the decline in the intensity of internal migration been accompanied by changes in reasons for migration?

Author

Listed:
  • Sunganani V. Kalemba

    (University of Queensland)

  • Aude Bernard

    (University of Queensland)

  • Jonathan Corcoran

    (University of Queensland)

  • Elin Charles-Edwards

    (University of Queensland)

Abstract

The last few decades have seen the intensity of internal migration decline in Australia and other advanced economies including the United States. Recent evidence suggests that changes in the composition of the population alone do not account for this persistent downward trend. This has led migration scholars to suspect that more profound behavioural changes driven by social, economic, and technological transformations are at play and that shifts in migration behaviour are likely to be reflected in changes in reasons for migration. We use data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey to shed new light on the factors driving the decline in internal migration in Australia between 2002 and 2018. This is done by examining annual trends in self-reported reasons for intrastate and interstate migration and applying a series of pooled logistic regressions. Results reveal a decline across all reasons for migration, and not only employment-related migration contrary to explanations proposed in the extant literature. The decline in employment-related migration does not appear to be the result of a rise in alternative forms of mobility such as teleworking or substitution with inter-industry or occupation mobility. Furthermore, we also find that the negative effect of duration of residence has increased for family-related migration. Collectively, these findings suggest that behavioural change, particularly increased place attachment, may have contributed to the decline in internal migration.

Suggested Citation

  • Sunganani V. Kalemba & Aude Bernard & Jonathan Corcoran & Elin Charles-Edwards, 2022. "Has the decline in the intensity of internal migration been accompanied by changes in reasons for migration?," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 279-313, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joprea:v:39:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s12546-022-09285-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s12546-022-09285-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12546-022-09285-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12546-022-09285-5?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Greg Kaplan & Sam Schulhofer‐Wohl, 2017. "Understanding The Long‐Run Decline In Interstate Migration," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 58(1), pages 57-94, February.
    2. John Ermisch & Clara H. Mulder, 2019. "Migration Versus Immobility, and Ties to Parents," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(3), pages 587-608, July.
    3. Thomas B. Foster, 2017. "Decomposing American immobility: Compositional and rate components of interstate, intrastate, and intracounty migration and mobility decline," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(47), pages 1515-1548.
    4. Thomas John Cooke & Ian Shuttleworth, 2017. "Migration and the Internet," Migration Letters, Migration Letters, vol. 14(3), pages 331-342, September.
    5. Koşar, Gizem & Ransom, Tyler & van der Klaauw, Wilbert, 2022. "Understanding migration aversion using elicited counterfactual choice probabilities," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 231(1), pages 123-147.
    6. 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.
    7. Everett Lee, 1966. "A theory of migration," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 3(1), pages 47-57, March.
    8. Michael J. Thomas & Clara H. Mulder & Thomas J. Cooke, 2018. "Geographical Distances Between Separated Parents: A Longitudinal Analysis," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 34(4), pages 463-489, October.
    9. Henry Hyatt & Erika McEntarfer & Ken Ueda & Alexandria Zhang, 2018. "Interstate Migration and Employer-to-Employer Transitions in the United States: New Evidence From Administrative Records Data," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2161-2180, December.
    10. Aude Bernard & Martin Bell & Elin Charles-Edwards, 2014. "Life-Course Transitions and the Age Profile of Internal Migration," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 40(2), pages 213-239, June.
    11. Ganong, Peter & Shoag, Daniel, 2017. "Why has regional income convergence in the U.S. declined?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 76-90.
    12. Michael Corliss & Phil Lewis, 2014. "Joblessness, taxable income and regional divergence over time," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 33(3), pages 263-274, September.
    13. Patrick Coate & Kyle Mangum, 2019. "Fast Locations and Slowing Labor Mobility," Working Papers 19-49, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    14. Martin Bell & Elin Charles-Edwards & Philipp Ueffing & John Stillwell & Marek Kupiszewski & Dorota Kupiszewska, 2015. "Internal Migration and Development: Comparing Migration Intensities Around the World," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 41(1), pages 33-58, March.
    15. Mincer, Jacob, 1978. "Family Migration Decisions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 749-773, October.
    16. Modestino, Alicia Sasser & Dennett, Julia, 2013. "Are American homeowners locked into their houses? The impact of housing market conditions on state-to-state migration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 322-337.
    17. Bettina Hünteler & Clara H. Mulder, 2020. "Geographic Proximity to Parents, Intergenerational Support Exchange, and Migration Within Germany," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(5), pages 895-918, November.
    18. Brown, Jennifer & Matsa, David A., 2020. "Locked in by leverage: Job search during the housing crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(3), pages 623-648.
    19. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    20. Partridge, Mark D. & Rickman, Dan S. & Olfert, M. Rose & Ali, Kamar, 2012. "Dwindling U.S. internal migration: Evidence of spatial equilibrium or structural shifts in local labor markets?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 375-388.
    21. Michael J. Thomas & Clara H. Mulder & Thomas J. Cooke, 2018. "Erratum to: Geographical Distances Between Separated Parents: A Longitudinal Analysis," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 34(4), pages 689-689, October.
    22. Greg Kaplan & Sam Schulhofer‐Wohl, 2017. "Understanding The Long‐Run Decline In Interstate Migration," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 58, pages 57-94, February.
    23. Michael Thomas & Brian Joseph Gillespie & Nik Lomax, 2019. "Variations in migration motives over distance," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(38), pages 1097-1110.
    24. Grant Schellenberg & Chaohui Lu & Christoph Schimmele & Feng Hou, 2018. "The Correlates of Self-Assessed Community Belonging in Canada: Social Capital, Neighbourhood Characteristics, and Rootedness," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 140(2), pages 597-618, November.
    25. Martin Korpi & William A.V. Clark, 2017. "Human Capital Theory and Internal Migration: Do Average Outcomes Distort Our View of Migrant Motives?," Migration Letters, Migration Letters, vol. 14(2), pages 237-250, May.
    26. James Raymer & Bernard Baffour, 2018. "Subsequent Migration of Immigrants Within Australia, 1981–2016," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 37(6), pages 1053-1077, December.
    27. Harris, John R & Todaro, Michael P, 1970. "Migration, Unemployment & Development: A Two-Sector Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 126-142, March.
    28. Claudia Geist & Patricia McManus, 2012. "Different Reasons, Different Results: Implications of Migration by Gender and Family Status," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(1), pages 197-217, February.
    29. Richard Williams, 2012. "Using the margins command to estimate and interpret adjusted predictions and marginal effects," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 12(2), pages 308-331, June.
    30. Brian Joseph Gillespie & Clara Mulder, 2020. "Nonresident family as a motive for migration," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 42(13), pages 399-410.
    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. Xue Peng, 2024. "Migration behaviors leaving metropolitan areas: assessing the impacts of health risks and teleworking in the COVID-19 context," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.

    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. Ning Jia & Raven Molloy & Christopher Smith & Abigail Wozniak, 2023. "The Economics of Internal Migration: Advances and Policy Questions," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 61(1), pages 144-180, March.
    2. 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.
    3. Aude Bernard & Francisco Perales, 2021. "Is Migration a Learned Behavior? Understanding the Impact of Past Migration on Future Migration," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(2), pages 449-474, June.
    4. Brian Joseph Gillespie & Clara H. Mulder & Christiane Reichert, 2022. "The Role of Family and Friends in Return Migration and Its Labor Market Outcomes," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(1), pages 115-138, February.
    5. Robert Bozick, 2021. "Age, period, and cohort effects contributing to the Great American Migration Slowdown," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(42), pages 1269-1296.
    6. Li, Xiaomeng & Huang, Siyu & Chen, Jiawei & Chen, Qinghua, 2020. "Analysis of the driving factors of U.S. domestic population mobility," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 539(C).
    7. Iva Vuksanović Herceg Tomislav Herceg Lorena Škuflić, 2020. "New EU member states’ emigration: Projections for future and lessons for the new EU candidates," Zagreb International Review of Economics and Business, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 23(2), pages 129-140, November.
    8. Raven Molloy & Christopher L. Smith & Abigail Wozniak, 2017. "Job Changing and the Decline in Long-Distance Migration in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(2), pages 631-653, April.
    9. repec:grz:wpsses:2021-07 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Hagen-Zanker, Jessica, 2010. "Modest expectations: Causes and effects of migration on migrant households in source countries," MPRA Paper 29507, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Kubis, Alexander & Schneider, Lutz, 2007. "Determinants of Female Migration – The Case of German NUTS 3 Regions," IWH Discussion Papers 12/2007, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    12. Miguel González-Leonardo & Aude Bernard & Joan Garcia-Roman & Antonio López-Gay, 2022. "Educational selectivity of native and foreign-born internal migrants in Europe," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 47(34), pages 1033-1046.
    13. Riley Wilson, 2021. "Isolated States of America: The Impact of State Borders on Mobility and Regional Labor Market Adjustments," Upjohn Working Papers 21-358, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    14. Champion, Tony & Shuttleworth, Ian, 2015. "Are people moving home less? An analysis of address changing in England and Wales, 1971-2011, using the ONS longitudinal study," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 64618, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Nguyen, Loc Duc & Raabe, Katharina & Grote, Ulrike, 2015. "Rural–Urban Migration, Household Vulnerability, and Welfare in Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 79-93.
    16. Aude Bernard & Martin Bell, 2018. "Educational selectivity of internal migrants: A global assessment," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 39(29), pages 835-854.
    17. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Tobias D. Ketterer, 2012. "Do Local Amenities Affect The Appeal Of Regions In Europe For Migrants?," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(4), pages 535-561, October.
    18. Pekkala, Sari, 2002. "Regional growth centres - the most attractive location in Finland?," ERSA conference papers ersa02p087, European Regional Science Association.
    19. Mike Zabek, 2024. "Local Ties in Spatial Equilibrium," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 287-317, April.
    20. Roselinde Wiel & Niels Kooiman & Clara H. Mulder, 2021. "Family Complexity and Parents’ Migration: The Role of Repartnering and Distance to Non-Resident Children," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(4), pages 877-907, November.
    21. Guru Prakash Singh, 2016. "Plights of Migrant Construction Workers," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 41(3), pages 181-198, August.

    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:spr:joprea:v:39:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s12546-022-09285-5. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.