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Why do People Stay? The Insider Advantages Approach: Empirical Evidence from Swedish Labour Markets

Author

Listed:
  • Fischer, Peter A
  • Holm, Einar
  • Malmberg, Gunnar
  • Straubhaar, Thomas

Abstract

Migration research has been quite successful in explaining changes in migration flows. Less satisfactory are its answers as to why the overwhelming majority of people remain immobile, despite persistent regional wealth differences and economic integration proceeding. We suggest complementing traditional theories with an insider advantages approach towards immobility. Most people do not move because by staying immobile they have accumulated work- and leisure-oriented insider advantages that are location-specific and would be lost in case of emigration. Therefore, the longer people have stayed and the more insider advantages they have accumulated, the less likely they are to move. Using a new micro dataset covering all people resident in Sweden in 1994 and their mobility experience since 1985, we find a strong positive duration dependence of the probability to stay even after controlling for a large set of alternative factors. Traditional microeconomic characteristics prove helpful in explaining immobility, while regional macroeconomic differences have very little impact on individual mobility decisions. A large number of moves between Swedish labour markets seem related to specific life-course events, of which getting unemployed is only one. Factors that are not dependent on one’s own work but ought to increase location-specific insider-advantages (like having a working partner, having children or owning a house), increase the probability of staying even further.

Suggested Citation

  • Fischer, Peter A & Holm, Einar & Malmberg, Gunnar & Straubhaar, Thomas, 1998. "Why do People Stay? The Insider Advantages Approach: Empirical Evidence from Swedish Labour Markets," CEPR Discussion Papers 1952, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:1952
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Rephann, Terance & Vencatasawmy, Coomaren, 1999. "Determinants of the Spatial Mobility of Immigrants in Sweden," ERSA conference papers ersa99pa272, European Regional Science Association.
    2. Harald Badinger & Thomas Url, 2002. "Determinants of regional unemployment: some evidence from Austria," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(9), pages 977-988.
    3. David B. Audretsch & Erik E. Lehmann & Julian Schenkenhofer, 2021. "A Context-Choice Model of Niche Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(5), pages 1276-1303, September.
    4. Hyungjo Hur & Keumseok Koh, 2023. "Why and Where Do Highly Educated Workers Relocate? A National-Level Analysis across U.S. Census Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-23, January.
    5. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Eriksson, Rikard, 2017. "Job-related Mobility and Plant Performance in Sweden," CEPR Discussion Papers 12018, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Rikard Eriksson & Martin Henning & Anne Otto, 2014. "Regional and industrial mobility of workers leaving mature industries. A study of individuals who exit the Swedish shipbuilding industry 1970-2000," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1415, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jul 2014.
    7. Kerilyn Schewel & Sonja Fransen, 2018. "Formal Education and Migration Aspirations in Ethiopia," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 44(3), pages 555-587, September.
    8. Anne Otto & Rikard Eriksson & Martin Henning, 2015. "Industrial and geographical mobility of workers exiting the Swedish and West German shipbuilding industry 1970-2000," ERSA conference papers ersa15p958, European Regional Science Association.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    immobility of people; insider advantages; Migration; Swedish labour markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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