Micromotives and macromoves: political preferences and internal migration in England and Wales

Georgios Efthyvoulou, Vincenzo Bove and Harry Pickard

Journal of Economic Geography, 2023, vol. 23, issue 5, 1145-1167

Abstract: When people migrate internally, do they tend to move to locations that reflect their political preferences? To address this question, we combine evidence from a unique panel dataset on population movements across local authority districts in England and Wales (2002–2015) with evidence stemming from individual survey-based data. Our results suggest that political similarity between two districts exerts an important positive effect on their bilateral migration flows. Our results also indicate that political alignment to the district of residence contributes to individuals’ sense of belonging and ‘fitting in’, consistent with the existence of a homophily mechanism.

Keywords: Internal migration; political sorting; homophily; gravity models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Working Paper: Micromotives and macromoves:Political preferences and internal migration in England and Wales (2021)
Working Paper: Micromotives and macromoves: Political preferences and internal migration in England and Wales (2021)
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