Migration Networks and Location Decisions: Evidence from US Mass Migration

Bryan Stuart and Evan Taylor

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2021, vol. 13, issue 3, 134-75

Abstract: This paper studies how birth town migration networks affected long-run location decisions during historical US migration episodes. We develop a new method to estimate the strength of migration networks for each receiving and sending location. Our estimates imply that when one randomly chosen African American moved from a Southern birth town to a destination county, then 1.9 additional Black migrants made the same move on average. For White migrants from the Great Plains, the average is only 0.4. Networks were particularly important in connecting Black migrants with attractive employment opportunities and played a larger role in less costly moves.

JEL-codes: J15 J61 N32 N92 R23 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Migration Networks and Location Decisions: Evidence from U.S. Mass Migration (2019)
Working Paper: Migration Networks and Location Decisions: Evidence from U.S. Mass Migration (2017)
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DOI: 10.1257/app.20180294

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