Migration Networks and Location Decisions: Evidence from U.S. Mass Migration

Bryan Stuart and Evan J. Taylor ()
Additional contact information
Evan J. Taylor: University of Arizona

No 12709, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper studies how birth town migration networks affected long-run location decisions during historical U.S. 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.

Keywords: social interactions; location decisions; migration networks; Great Migration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J61 N32 O15 R23 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 116 pages
Date: 2019-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-int, nep-lab, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Published - published in: American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2021, 13 (3), 134 - 175

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https://docs.iza.org/dp12709.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Migration Networks and Location Decisions: Evidence from US Mass Migration (2021)
Working Paper: Migration Networks and Location Decisions: Evidence from U.S. Mass Migration (2017)
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