A Family Choice Model of U.S. Interregional Migration Based on the Human Capital Approach.

An economic analysis based on the human capital approach showing that our ability to explain migration behavior of either men or women is enhanced by considering the employment opportunities of their spouses as well as their own. An econometric model is estimated using aggregate data on the 1955-1960 gross migration between U.S. Census divisions of persons aged 25-29 grouped according to sex, race and level of education. Family measures of income at origin (proxy for ability to finance) and of income difference (current return on the investment)--including the earnings of spouses--explain more of the variation in migration rates than measures which only refer to the sex under consideration or only to their spouses. Distance is used to represent moving costs. Holding constant the cost of living, military population, and unemployment rates for origin and destination, increases the explanatory power of the three original variables for all whites and for highly educated nonwhites. (Prepared for presentation at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America in Toronto, April 13-15, 1972.) 57 pp. Ref.