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Author: Nitungkorn, Sukanya
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Nitungkorn, Sukanya
An Economic Analysis of Internal Migration
Ph.D. Dissertation, Southern Methodist University, 1975
Cohort(s): Young Men
Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning
Keyword(s): Earnings; Educational Attainment; Migration; Racial Differences; Wage Differentials; Wages

In this study, an individual is postulated to maximize his lifetime utility level in making the decision to migrate. In the theoretical part, the conditions in which maximization or wealth imply maximization of utility are established, and the relationship between the wage differential and the individual's decision to migrate is found to be as follows: (1) If the time paths of working time of an individual are the same in both locations, the greater the wage differential, the more likely it is that he will migrate. (2) If his time path of working time at the destination is less than that at the origin, then the effect of the wage differential will be the same as above. (3) If his time path of working time at the destination is greater than that at the origin, no conclusion on the effect of the wage differential can be drawn without further restrictions. Empirical testings of the model are based on a 1966 and 1967 NLS sample of young men, 14 to 24 years of age. The observations are classified by race, marital status and educational attainment. Within each category, they are further classified into three working time groups in accordance with the theoretical framework. Some of the main findings are: (1) The coefficients of the wage differential are positive in all cases. However, for the youth in the first group (those with equal working time in both locations) and the second group (those with less working time, but higher earnings at the destination than at the origin), the magnitude and significance level of the coefficients of the wage differential are much greater than those for the youth in the third group (those with greater working time at the destination than at the origin). (2) The response to the wage differential of black youth in the first two groups is higher than those of white youth, but the opposite is found for youth in the third group. The single youth are slightly more responsive to the wage differential than the married youth. The high education youth are more responsive to the wage differential than the low education ones in all groups.
Bibliography Citation
Nitungkorn, Sukanya. An Economic Analysis of Internal Migration. Ph.D. Dissertation, Southern Methodist University, 1975.