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Discussion Paper
Smart places, getting smarter: facts about the young professional population in New England states
Each of the New England states is wrestling with how to retain a skilled workforce and sustain economic competitiveness while facing an aging population. In particular, each state fears that it is losing young, educated workers to other states and regions. This paper builds on earlier research about trends in the region?s young professionals: it looks at the supply of young professionals in each state to better understand trends in that population. The analysis reveals that, while there are some differences between the New England states, all are facing slow growth or no growth in its ...
Working Paper
Internal migration in the United States
We review patterns in migration within the U.S. over the past thirty years. Internal migration has fallen noticeably since the 1980s, reversing increases from earlier in the century. The decline in migration has been widespread across demographic and socioeconomic groups, as well as for moves of all distances. Although a convincing explanation for the secular decline in migration remains elusive and requires further research, we find only limited roles for the housing market contraction and the economic recession in reducing migration recently. Despite its downward trend, migration within the ...
Working Paper
Trends in U. S. family income mobility, 1969-2006
Much of America's promise is predicated on economic mobility?the idea that people are not limited or defined by where they start, but can move up the economic ladder based on their efforts and accomplishments. Family income mobility?changes in individual families' income positions over time?is one indicator of the degree to which the eventual economic wellbeing of any family is tethered to its starting point. In the United States, family income inequality has risen from year to year since the mid-1970s; given this rising cross-sectional inequality, changes over time in mobility determine the ...
Working Paper
Convergence in the United States: a tale of migration and urbanization
We use non-parametric distribution dynamics techniques to reassess the convergence of per capita personal income (PCPI) across U.S. states and across metropolitan and nonmetropolitan portions of states for the period 1969-2005. The long-run distribution of PCPI is bimodal for both states and metro/nonmetro portions. Further- more, the high income mode of the distribution across metro and nonmetro portions corresponds to the single mode of the long-run distribution across metro portions only. These results (polarization or club-convergence) are reversed when weighting by population. The long ...
Journal Article
On the record: Shifting from world population explosion to global aging : a conversation with Joseph Chamie
Joseph Chamie, former director of the United Nations Population Division, is research director of the New York-based Center for Migration Studies. He spoke at the recent Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas conference ?Immigration Policy in an Era of Globalization,? taking time out during his visit to discuss world demographic trends.
Journal Article
Population Boom: Where are Oklahoma’s newest residents living and working?
The previous edition of the Oklahoma Economist discovered those moving in came mostly from the Western U.S., and the state experienced “brain gain” after losing college graduates to other states for many years. This edition explores where in Oklahoma these new residents moved to and where other residents have moved within the state, as well as the demographics and employment status of those moving in.
Journal Article
Migration of recent college graduates: evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth
In the context of today's tight labor markets, as well as projections of continued demand for workers with high skills, various states are considering how to retain and attract college graduates. Such efforts involve identifying an area's relative strengths and weaknesses and taking actions as needed, either to capitalize on the strengths or to mitigate the weaknesses. Perhaps surprisingly, however, little systematic evidence exists on the factors influencing location decisions of recent graduates. This study is a first step in providing such evidence, making use of the National Longitudinal ...
Journal Article
From Brain Drain to Brain Gain, Oklahoma’s Population on the Rise
This edition of Oklahoma Economist examines multiple sources of state migration data to quantify the drivers of the state’s population growth. It finds the recent surge of new residents was driven primarily by historic levels of domestic migration from states in the western half of the U.S., as well as a reversal of the “brain drain” that plagued the state for much of the 2010s.
Working Paper
Are American homeowners locked into their houses?: the impact of housing market conditions on state-to-state migration
U.S. policymakers are concerned that negative home equity arising from the severe housing market decline may be constraining geographic mobility and consequently serving as a factor in the nation's persistently high unemployment rate. Indeed, the widespread drop in house prices since 2007 has increased the share of homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages. At the same time, migration across states and among homeowners has fallen sharply. Using a logistic regression framework to analyze data from the Internal Revenue Service on state-to-state migration between 2006 and 2009, the ...