IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaea09/49346.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Rural Out-Migration, Income, and Poverty: Are Those Who Move Truly Better Off?

Author

Listed:
  • Marre, Alexander W.

Abstract

Are working-age rural migrants to urban areas really better off? This paper uses data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics from 1979 to 1997 to answer this question. It builds on literature by Fisher (2005, 2007) on the role of unmeasured characteristics in influencing rural residential choice and economic outcomes. Recursive bivariate probit models of migration and household poverty and two-stage least squares models of migration and household income are estimated for three periods: 1979 to 1985, 1985 to 1991, and 1991 to 1997. The models used in this study suggest that the relationship between rural out-migration and poverty is mixed, while there appears to be no discernable effect of rural out-migration on income in the short-run.

Suggested Citation

  • Marre, Alexander W., 2009. "Rural Out-Migration, Income, and Poverty: Are Those Who Move Truly Better Off?," 2009 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, 2009, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 49346, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea09:49346
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.49346
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/49346/files/Marre_AAEA09_Final.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.49346?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dora L. Costa & Matthew E. Kahn, 2000. "Power Couples: Changes in the Locational Choice of the College Educated, 1940–1990," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(4), pages 1287-1315.
    2. Todaro, Michael P, 1969. "A Model for Labor Migration and Urban Unemployment in Less Developed Countries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(1), pages 138-148, March.
    3. Larry A. Sjaastad, 1970. "The Costs and Returns of Human Migration," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Harry W. Richardson (ed.), Regional Economics, chapter 9, pages 115-133, Palgrave Macmillan.
    4. George Psacharopoulos & Harry Anthony Patrinos, 2004. "Returns to investment in education: a further update," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 111-134.
    5. Newey, Whitney K., 1987. "Efficient estimation of limited dependent variable models with endogenous explanatory variables," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 231-250, November.
    6. Monica Fisher, 2007. "Why Is U.S. Poverty Higher in Nonmetropolitan than in Metropolitan Areas?," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 56-76, March.
    7. Bruce Weber & Leif Jensen & Kathleen Miller & Jane Mosley & Monica Fisher, 2005. "A Critical Review of Rural Poverty Literature: Is There Truly a Rural Effect?," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 28(4), pages 381-414, October.
    8. Mitch Renkow, 2003. "Employment Growth, Worker Mobility, and Rural Economic Development," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 85(2), pages 503-513.
    9. Glaeser, Edward L & Mare, David C, 2001. "Cities and Skills," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(2), pages 316-342, April.
    10. Borjas, George J. & Bronars, Stephen G. & Trejo, Stephen J., 1992. "Self-selection and internal migration in the United States," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 159-185, September.
    11. Gibbs, Robert & Kusmin, Lorin D., 2005. "Low Skill Employment and the Changing Economy of Rural America," Economic Research Report 33595, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    12. Stephan J. Goetz & David L. Debertin, 1996. "Rural Population Decline in the 1980s: Impacts of Farm Structure and Federal Farm Programs," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 78(3), pages 517-529.
    13. Fisher, Monica G., 2005. "On the Empirical Finding of a Higher Risk of Poverty in Rural Areas: Is Rural Residence Endogenous to Poverty?," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 30(2), pages 1-20, August.
    14. Jill L. Findeis & Leif Jensen, 1998. "Employment Opportunities in Rural Areas: Implications for Poverty in a Changing Policy Environment," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1000-1007.
    15. N/A, 2007. "Economic Overview," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 200(1), pages 2-3, April.
    16. Michael P. Murray, 2006. "Avoiding Invalid Instruments and Coping with Weak Instruments," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(4), pages 111-132, Fall.
    17. Bradford Mills & Gautam Hazarika, 2001. "The Migration of Young Adults from Non-Metropolitan Counties," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(2), pages 329-340.
    18. Dolton, P. J. & Makepeace, G. H., 1987. "Interpreting sample selection effects," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 373-379.
    19. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Brueckner, Jan K. & Lall, Somik V., 2015. "Cities in Developing Countries," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 1399-1455, Elsevier.
    2. Jordan, Jeffrey L. & Mykerezi, Elton & Kostandini, Genti & Mills, Bradford F., 2011. "The Determinants of Rural Urban Migration: Evidence from NLSY Data," 2011 Annual Meeting, July 24-26, 2011, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 103938, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gearhart, Richard & Michieka, Nyakundi, 2019. "Natural resource abundance and healthcare efficiency in Appalachia: A robust conditional approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 985-996.
    2. Emily Rauscher & Byeongdon Oh, 2021. "Going Places: Effects of Early U.S. Compulsory Schooling Laws on Internal Migration," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(2), pages 255-283, April.
    3. Janice Compton & Robert A. Pollak, 2007. "Why Are Power Couples Increasingly Concentrated in Large Metropolitan Areas?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(3), pages 475-512.
    4. Kristiina Huttunen & Jarle Møen & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2018. "Job Loss and Regional Mobility," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(2), pages 479-509.
    5. Bruce Weber & Leif Jensen & Kathleen Miller & Jane Mosley & Monica Fisher, 2005. "A Critical Review of Rural Poverty Literature: Is There Truly a Rural Effect?," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 28(4), pages 381-414, October.
    6. Dahl, Michael S. & Sorenson, Olav, 2010. "The migration of technical workers," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 33-45, January.
    7. Caliendo, Marco & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Hennecke, Juliane & Uhlendorff, Arne, 2019. "Locus of control and internal migration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    8. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Tobias Ketterer, 2015. "Do we follow the money? The drivers of migration across regions in the EU," REGION, European Regional Science Association, vol. 2, pages 27-45.
    9. Maureen Kilkenny, 2010. "Urban/Regional Economics And Rural Development," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 449-470, February.
    10. Machikita, Tomohiro, 2006. "Is Learning by Migrating to a Megalopolis Really Important? Evidence from Thailand," IDE Discussion Papers 82, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    11. Moretti, Enrico, 2011. "Local Labor Markets," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 14, pages 1237-1313, Elsevier.
    12. Winters, John V., 2020. "Problem on the Plains: College Earnings Premiums in Small Metropolitan Areas," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 51(1), December.
    13. Imed Limam & Abdelwahab Ben Hafaiedh, 2017. "Education, Earnings and Returns to Schooling in Tunisia," Working Papers 1162, Economic Research Forum, revised 12 Jun 2017.
    14. Caliendo, Marco & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Hennecke, Juliane & Uhlendorff, Arne, 2019. "Locus of control and internal migration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    15. Ham, John C. & Li, Xianghong & Reagan, Patricia B., 2011. "Matching and semi-parametric IV estimation, a distance-based measure of migration, and the wages of young men," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 161(2), pages 208-227, April.
    16. Consuelo Abellán-Colodrón, 1998. "Ganancia salarial esperada como determinante de la decisión individual de emigrar," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 22(1), pages 93-117, January.
    17. Diana Tam & Arthur Grimes, 2023. "Migration of dual-earner couples: a subjective wellbeing approach," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 269-289, March.
    18. Jens Ruhose, 2015. "Microeconometric Analyses on Economic Consequences of Selective Migration," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 61.
    19. Georgeanne Artz & Li Yu, 2011. "How ya Gonna Keep ’em Down on the Farm," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 25(4), pages 341-352, November.
    20. Mark D. Partridge & Dan S. Rickman, 2005. "High-Poverty Nonmetropolitan Counties in America: Can Economic Development Help?," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 28(4), pages 415-440, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Community/Rural/Urban Development; Labor and Human Capital;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:aaea09:49346. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaeaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.