A School-Level Gravity Model of Student Migration Flows to Higher Education Institutions

John Cullinan and Jim Duggan

Spatial Economic Analysis, 2016, vol. 11, issue 3, 294-314

Abstract: This paper presents a gravity model of student migration flows to higher education institutions (HEIs) in Ireland. The analysis is performed on a novel dataset containing detailed information on a range of ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors, allowing one to estimate the effects of a number of important school-level characteristics on these flows. This is achieved by estimating and comparing a fixed-effects Poisson model and two conditional fixed-effects negative binomial models and selecting the best model on the basis of the Akaike information criterion (AIC). The preferred negative binomial model accounts for over-dispersion in the student flow data and allows for estimation of the parameter coefficients of the HEI-invariant characteristics. The analysis suggests that while geography plays a very important role in explaining student flows, so too do a range of school-level characteristics. Furthermore, it is found that distance has a differential impact across HEIs and HEI types with important implications for policy-makers and HEI managers.

Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:specan:v:11:y:2016:i:3:p:294-314

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DOI: 10.1080/17421772.2016.1177195

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