IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/diw/diwsop/diw_sp334.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Why Are East Germans Not More Mobile?: Analyzing the Impact of Local Networks on Migration Intentions

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Bönisch
  • Lutz Schneider

Abstract

Despite poor regional labour market conditions East Germans exhibit a rather limited willing-ness of leaving their home region. Applying an IV ordered probit approach and using the German Socio Economic Panel (SOEP), we test a local network explanation of lower spatial mobility. Firstly, we find that membership in locally bounded social networks reduces regional mobility. Secondly, we show that native East Germans are more invested in this type of social networks than West Germans. Thirdly, after controlling for the social network effect the mobility gap between East and West substantially reduces. Thus, low regional labour mobility of East Germans is for a significant part attributable to local ties binding people to their home region.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Bönisch & Lutz Schneider, 2010. "Why Are East Germans Not More Mobile?: Analyzing the Impact of Local Networks on Migration Intentions," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 334, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp334
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.363880.de/diw_sp0334.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fidrmuc, Jan, 2004. "Migration and regional adjustment to asymmetric shocks in transition economies," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 230-247, June.
    2. Vera Gács & Peter Huber, 2005. "Quantity adjustments in the regional labour markets of EU candidate countries," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 84(4), pages 553-574, November.
    3. Peter Huber, 2003. "Quantity Adjustments in Candidate Countries Regional Labour Markets," ERSA conference papers ersa03p239, European Regional Science Association.
    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. Peter Huber & Stepan Mikula, 2019. "Social capital and willingness to migrate in post-communist countries," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 46(1), pages 31-59, February.
    2. Marcel Erlinghagen & Christoph Kern & Petra Stein, 2019. "Internal Migration, Social Stratification and Dynamic Effects on Subjective Well Being," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1046, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).

    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. Bönisch, Peter & Schneider, Lutz, 2010. "Why are East Germans not More Mobile? Analyzing the Impact of Social Ties on Regional Migration," IWH Discussion Papers 16/2010, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    2. Thomas Gruber, 2004. "Employment and Labor Market Flexibility in the New EU Member States," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue 1, pages 96-121.
    3. Smets, Frank & Beyer, Robert C. M., 2015. "Labour market adjustments in Europe and the US: How different?," Working Paper Series 1767, European Central Bank.
    4. Olga Demidova & Marcello Signorelli, 2010. "The Impact of Crises on Youth Unemployment of Russian Regions: An Empirical Analysis," Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia, Finanza e Statistica 78/2010, Università di Perugia, Dipartimento Economia.
    5. Marcello Signorelli & Enrico Marelli, 2007. "Institutional change, regional features and aggregate performance in eight EU’s transition countries," Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia, Finanza e Statistica 37/2007, Università di Perugia, Dipartimento Economia.
    6. Rutkowski, Jan, 2006. "Labor market developments during economic transition," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3894, The World Bank.
    7. Jan J. Rutkowski & Stefano Scarpetta, 2005. "Enhancing Job Opportunities : Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7408.
    8. Darja Borsic & Alenka Kavkler, 2009. "Duration of Regional Unemployment Spells in Slovenia," Managing Global Transitions, University of Primorska, Faculty of Management Koper, vol. 7(2), pages 123-146.
    9. Pierella Paci & Erwin R. Tiongson & Mateusz Walewski & Jacek Liwinski & Maria M. Stoilkova, 2007. "Internal Labor Mobility in Central Europe and the Baltic Region," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6598.
    10. Shu-hen Chiang, 2009. "The effects of regional diversity on national unemployment through inter-regional migration: new evidence from Taiwan," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(19), pages 2505-2511.
    11. Peter Huber, 2009. "Regional Labour Market Disparities in an Enlarged European Union," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Paul Blokker & Bruno Dallago (ed.), Regional Diversity and Local Development in the New Member States, chapter 5, pages 122-165, Palgrave Macmillan.
    12. Fabian Bornhorst & Simon Commander, 2006. "Regional unemployment and its persistence in transition countries," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 14(2), pages 269-288, April.
    13. Enrico Marelli & Roberto Patuelli & Marcello Signorelli, 2012. "Regional unemployment in the EU before and after the global crisis," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 155-175, January.
    14. Juessen, Falko & Linnemann, Ludger, 2012. "Identifying Regional Labor Demand Shocks Using Sign Restrictions," IZA Discussion Papers 6767, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Shu-hen Chiang, 2009. "The effects of industrial diversification on regional unemployment in Taiwan: is the portfolio theory applicable?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 43(4), pages 947-962, December.
    16. Thiess Büttner & Peter Huber & Anna Iara & Johannes Rincke & Iulia Traistaru, 2004. "AccessLab: Regional Labour Market Adjustments in the Accession Candidate Countries. Materials No 1," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 25284.
    17. Peter Huber & Iulia Traistaru, 2003. "Regionale Entwicklung und Anpassung des Arbeitsmarktes in Ost-Mitteleuropa," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 76(11), pages 841-850, November.
    18. Cristiano Perugini & Marcello Signorelli, 2010. "Youth labour market performance in European regions," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 151-185, May.
    19. Peter Huber, 2018. "The Role of Migration as Adjustment Mechanism in the Crisis and EMU," Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Mendel University Press, vol. 66(6), pages 1497-1508.
    20. Nadia Granato & Anette Haas & Silke Hamann & Annekatrin Niebuhr, 2015. "The Impact Of Skill‐Specific Migration On Regional Unemployment Disparities In Germany," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 513-539, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social networks; labour mobility;

    JEL classification:

    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Lists

    This item is featured on the following reading lists, Wikipedia, or ReplicationWiki pages:
    1. SOEP based publications

    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:diw:diwsop:diw_sp334. 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: Bibliothek (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sodiwde.html .

    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.