Human Capital and Population Growth in Non-Metropolitan U.S. Counties: The Importance of College Student Migration

John Winters

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Researchers have consistently shown that the stock of human capital in an area, measured as the share of the adult population with a college degree, is a strong predictor of future population growth. This paper examines this relationship for U.S. non-metropolitan counties and posits that student migration for higher education may play an important role. Students often move to an area for college and then stay in the area after their education is complete, causing the area’s educated population to grow. Empirical evidence suggests that student migration explains nearly all of the greater in-migration to highly educated non-metropolitan counties. Implications for non-metropolitan brain drain are discussed.

Keywords: population growth; migration; human capital; non-metropolitan counties; college (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R11 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-10-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-hrm, nep-lab, nep-mig and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:25592

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