The Role of Non-Pecuniary Considerations: Locations Decisions of College Graduates from Low Income Backgrounds

Yifan Gong, Todd Stinebrickner, Ralph Stinebrickner and Yuxi Yao
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Ralph Stinebrickner: Berea College, https://www.berea.edu/mat/

No 20221, University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP) Working Papers from University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP)

Abstract: We examine the initial post-college geographic location decisions of students from hometowns in the Appalachian region that often lack substantial high-skilled job opportunities, focusing on the role of non-pecuniary considerations. Novel survey questions allow us to measure the full non-pecuniary benefits of each relevant geographic location, in dollar equivalents. A new specification test is designed and implemented to provide evidence about the quality of these non-pecuniary measures. Supplementing perceived location choice probabilities and expectations about pecuniary factors with our new non-pecuniary measures allows a new approach for obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the importance of pecuniary and non-pecuniary factors for location decisions. We compare this approach to alternative expectations-based approaches. We also combine the non-pecuniary measures with realized location and earnings outcomes to characterize inequality in overall welfare.

Keywords: non-pecuniary preferences; expectations data; location choice; welfare and income inequality; Appalachia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ban and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Working Paper: The Role of Non-Pecuniary Considerations: Location Decisions of College Graduates from Low Income Backgrounds (2024)
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