Migration, fixed costs, and location-specific amenities: A hazard analysis for a panel of males

Abstract

This article presents econometric estimates of the adult working-age male hazard function of interstate migration fitted to data obtained from migration decisions of adult males over a twenty-year period. The results show a strong negative effect of the real wage difference between origin and destination, and of fixed costs associated with a move, on the hazard rate of interstate migration. Farmers and other self-employed males, and males who have school-age children, have unusually low hazard rates of interstate migration. Although a high crime rate is shown to increase the real wage, it also has a separate positive effect on the hazard of migration. © 2007 American Agricultural Economics Association.