IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/49824.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Note on Migration, Economic Opportunity, and the Quality of Life

Author

Listed:
  • Cebula, Richard
  • Vedder, Richard

Abstract

This study empirically investigates the impact of not only economic opportunity but also the quality of life, including environmental dimensions, on net in-migration over the 1960-1968 period. Investment is treated as an investment decision. Using available data for the largest SMSAs in the U.S. provided an opportunity to investigate migration to 39 of those SMSAs. The OLS results indicate that economic opportunity, as measured by the unemployment rate and the change in per capita income, exercised a negative impact and positive impact, respectively, on net in-migration to large SMSAs. Furthermore, it is found that quality-of-life/environmental factors such as warm weather, lower crime rates, and greater availability of medical care services attracted migrants. The presence of higher levels of air pollution were found to exercise only a very modest negative impact on ne in-migration.

Suggested Citation

  • Cebula, Richard & Vedder, Richard, 1972. "A Note on Migration, Economic Opportunity, and the Quality of Life," MPRA Paper 49824, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 06 Jul 1972.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:49824
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/49824/1/MPRA_paper_49824.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Paul K. Gatons & Richard J. Cebula, 1972. "Wage-Rate Analysis: Differentials and Indeterminacy," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 25(2), pages 207-212, January.
    3. Goldman, Marshall I, 1972. "Externalities and the Race for Economic Growth in the USSR: Will the Environment Ever Win?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 314-327, March-Apr.
    4. Renas, Stephen & Cebula, Richard, 1971. "Investment in Human Capital and the Appropriate Discount Rate," MPRA Paper 51265, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Richard Cebula, 1974. "Local government policies and migration," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 85-93, September.
    2. Cebula, Richard, 1973. "Local Government Policies and Migration: An Analysis for SMSAs in the United States, 1965-1970," MPRA Paper 50068, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 02 Feb 1974.
    3. Kohn, Robert & Vedder, Richard & Cebula, Richard, 1972. "Determinants of Interstate Migration, By Race, 1965-1970," MPRA Paper 52311, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Cebula, Richard & Kohn, Robert & Vedder, Richard, 1972. "Some Determinants of Interstate Migration of Blacks, 1965-1970," MPRA Paper 50065, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Cebula, Richard, 1974. "On the Impact of State and Local Government Policies on Human Migration: A Log-Linear Analysis," MPRA Paper 52025, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. repec:kap:iaecre:v:11:y:2005:i:3:p:267-274 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Cebula, Richard J. & Alexander, Gigi M., 2006. "Determinants of Net Interstate Migration, 2000-2004," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 36(2), pages 1-8.
    8. Richard Cebula, 2005. "Internal Migration Determinants: Recent Evidence," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 11(3), pages 267-274, August.
    9. Stephen Drinkwater, 2003. "Go West? Assessing the willingness to move from Central and Eastern European Countries," School of Economics Discussion Papers 0503, School of Economics, University of Surrey.
    10. Laila Touhami Morghem & Khawlah Ali Abdalla Spetan, 2020. "Determinants of International Migration: An Applied Study on Selected Arab Countries (1995-2017)," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 10(2), pages 6-19.
    11. Bertoli, Simone & Dequiedt, Vianney & Zenou, Yves, 2016. "Can selective immigration policies reduce migrants' quality?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 100-109.
    12. Ather Maqsood Ahmed & Ismail Sirageldin, 1993. "Socio-economic Determinants of Labour Mobility in Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 139-157.
    13. Guy Stecklov & Paul Winters & Marco Stampini & Benjamin Davis, 2003. "Can Public Transfers Reduce Mexican Migration? A study based on randomized experimental data," Working Papers 03-16, Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - ESA).
    14. David P. Lindstrom & Silvia E. Giorguli-Saucedo, 2007. "The interrelationship of fertility, family maintenance and Mexico-U.S. Migration," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 17(28), pages 821-858.
    15. Bryan A. Stuart & Evan J. Taylor, 2021. "Migration Networks and Location Decisions: Evidence from US Mass Migration," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 134-175, July.
    16. Wineman, Ayala & Jayne, Thomas S., 2016. "Intra-Rural Migration in Tanzania and Pathways of Welfare Change," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235957, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    17. Gordon Hanson & Chen Liu & Craig McIntosh, 2017. "The Rise and Fall of U.S. Low-Skilled Immigration," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 48(1 (Spring), pages 83-168.
    18. Ubarevi?ien?, R?ta & van Ham, Maarten, 2016. "Population Decline in Lithuania: Who Lives in Declining Regions and Who Leaves?," IZA Discussion Papers 10160, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Kristiina Huttunen & Jarle Møen & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2018. "Job Loss and Regional Mobility," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(2), pages 479-509.
    20. Sergio Díaz-Briquets & Jorge F. Pérez-López, 1998. "Socialism and Environmental Disruption: Implications for Cuba," Annual Proceedings, The Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy, vol. 8.
    21. Tineke Fokkema & Eralba Cela & Elena Ambrosetti, 2013. "Giving from the Heart or from the Ego? Motives behind Remittances of the Second Generation in Europe," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 539-572, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    net in-migration; unemployment rates; income growth; climate; crime; air pollution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

    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:pra:mprapa:49824. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.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.