Peopling the past

The author discusses the importance of studying past populations in order to more fully understand the present. The focus is on regional patterns of population growth and internal migration and their impact on urban social structure in nineteenth-century Great Britain. Aspects considered include patterns of movement, occupation and mobility, the labor and housing markets, dimensions of community, residential mobility, individual experience, and education and social change.     

Business dynamism,educational attainment,and residential location choice

Using individual-level, geocode data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth's 1997 cohort, I ask whether business dynamism in local labor markets, defined as the rates of job creation and establishment entry, affects the location decisions of labor force participants, and I examine how effects differ for highly and less educated labor force participants. I find that a one standard deviation increase in business dynamism is associated with a 2%–4% increase in the probability a college graduate chooses a metropolitan statistical area and an 8%–15% decrease for high school graduates with no college experience. These results support recent findings documenting a decrease in responsiveness to local labor market conditions and suggest that incentivizing job creation in local labor markets may not be enough to offset the trend of declining internal migration in the United States.     

Public policy,local labor demand,and migration in Sweden, 1979-84

"A model of private local labor demand and interjurisdictional migration is presented and estimated using data from Swedish counties and municipalities for 1979-84. Our goal is to compare the effects on local labor markets of distinctive public-sector programs with those of traditional market variables. We find that local income taxes and tax-equalization grants have important effects on local labor markets; regional development policy measures and geographical-mobility subsidies do not. Thus, recent efforts scaling back some of these programs may not materially alter the regional economy's performance. Wages and other traditional market variables are also often found to influence significantly local labor markets."     

NEW FRONTIERS OF IMMIGRATION RESEARCH: CITIES AND FIRMS*

ABSTRACT The increase in international migration to rich countries during the last two decades has spurred research and policy questions. The economic determinants of national and international migrations and the impact of immigrants on labor markets have been investigated by economists, geographers, and regional scientists for a long time. Recently, however, the availability of new and detailed individual data on migrants across regions and localities in several countries has made it possible to analyze the impact of immigration on a richer set of socio‐economic outcomes. Two avenues of research have emerged as particularly interesting and are the focus of this special issue. First, international migrants are particularly concentrated in urban areas but their impact on some outcomes that are particularly relevant in cities (such as crime and housing markets) are not well understood yet. Second, immigrants not only increase labor supply but also affect firms’ productivity, survival and growth through their impact on localized externalities. These two themes link all the contributions of this special issue and show new directions for future research on the impact of immigration.     

ECONOMIC FUNDAMENTALS IN LOCAL HOUSING MARKETS: EVIDENCE FROM U.S. METROPOLITAN REGIONS

ABSTRACT.  This paper investigates the effects of national and regional economic conditions on outcomes in the single-family housing market: housing prices, vacancies, and residential construction activity. Our three-equation model confirms the importance of changes in regional economic conditions, income, and employment on local housing markets. The results also provide the first detailed evidence on the importance of vacancies in the owner-occupied housing market on housing prices and supplier activities. The results also document the importance of variations in materials, labor and capital costs, and regulation in affecting new supply. Simulation exercises, using standard impulse response models, document the lags in market responses to exogenous shocks and the variations arising from differences in local parameters. The results also suggest the importance of local regulation in affecting the pattern of market responses to regional income shocks.     

Employment Opportunities,Wages and International Migration in Sweden 1970–1989

In this study I focus on the impact of aggregate labor turnover and regional labor market conditions on gross in- and out-migration within the framework of a neoclassical flexible-wage (equilibrium) model and a fixed-wage (labor-market disequilibrium) model. Using annual panel data on internal gross migration flows in Sweden from 1970 to 1989, I find that regional differences in employment opportunities have the expected effects on migration. The empirical relationship between real wages and gross migration flows is found to be less congruent with theory implications, indicating that compensated regional income prospects are equalized primarily via the interaction between employment opportunities and gross migration flows. Cyclical changes in hirings are shown to have a robust and strongly significant positive scale effect on migration.     

ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE NETHERLANDS: PRODUCTIVITY,UTILITY, AND SORTING*

ABSTRACT This paper identifies the impact of cultural diversity on local economies, by explaining spatial disparities in wages and housing prices across Dutch cities using unique individual panel data of homeowners during the period 1999 and 2008. We distinguish between the effects of spatial sorting based on individual heterogeneity, interactions‐based productivity effects, and consumer amenities while controlling for interactions between the labor and housing market. In line with previous literature, we find a positive effect of cultural diversity on average housing prices. After controlling for spatial sorting, the effect of cultural diversity on housing prices is negative. The negative impact of cultural diversity on local housing markets is likely driven by a causal effect between the presence of immigrants and neighborhood quality that outweighs a positive effect of immigrant‐induced diversity in consumption goods.     

IF YOU CANNOT TAKE THE HEAT,GET OUT OF THE CERRADO … RECOVERING THE EQUILIBRIUM AMENITY COST OF NONMARGINAL CLIMATE CHANGE IN BRAZIL*

ABSTRACT This paper presents an empirical technique for valuing large changes in nonmarketed local attributes (e.g., climate amenities) without data describing prices of locally traded commodities like housing. A model of endogenous sorting is used to identify individuals' indirect utility functions, from which the value of the change in the local attribute is recovered while accounting for equilibrium impacts on markets for labor and locally traded commodities. Annual amenity costs of Brazilian climate change are estimated to be between $1.6 and $8.1 billion for a moderate climate change scenario, depending upon the role of migration costs.     

The spatial dimension of internal labor markets

We integrate into a unified framework the spatial and the employment dimensions of worker mobility, tracing workers across firms, across establishments, and across regions. Drawing upon the spatial dimension of internal labor markets in firms with multiple establishments in multiple locations, our results indicate that the contemporaneous wage premium to migration is around 3 percentage points. For the case of job switchers, we find that the return to regional migration is due to access to better jobs at the destination. We also document the existence of an urban premium for same‐employer migrants but for employer changes this premium is driven by selection.     

Population geography

Population geographers are involved in contemporary policy issues, the production of quality work, and successful communication of research findings. This article reviewed some contributions population geographers have made to the understanding of the geographic impact of aging and the consequences of migration. Geographers have come late to the study of aging and have focused primarily on four main policy issues: 1) fertility decline, 2) housing demography, 3) aged patterns of housing and migration, and 4) government policy. Fertility decline research has highlighted information diffusion theories for fertility decline by researchers such as Zelinsky, Skeldon, and Noin. Changes in attitudes and the removal on constraints has been examined by Woods. Residential mobility studies have been the focus of researchers such as Gober, Moore, and Clark, and Myers. Regional labor markets and the movement of the "baby boom" through the life course have been examined by Miron, Plane and Rogerson, and Clout, who studied the empty nesters and the movement out of suburbia. Private residential housing has increased for the elderly in England and Wales (Hamnett and Mullings), and seasonal migration of Minnesotans results in lost sales revenues and high health and social costs for those too ill to travel (Craig). Geographers have not accomplished a significant thrust into the literature on demographic aging. Contributions to the transnational and international literature have resulted in internal migration studies by Clout on "counterurbanization" in northwestern industrial Europe, while Fielding, Baltensperger, Marchand and Scott, and Jones have examined the continuing rural-urban migration. The loss of urban population has been associated with inner city problems, the impact of labor supply and market demand, and the revenue and health care consequences in the work of Champion, Gibson, and Champion and Illeris, and Craig. Impacts are felt differently by geographic location, and assorted models have been developed for examining interregional migration. Population movement between countries will be a future major policy issue associated with disparities in development. The benefits and disadvantages of immigration have been examined. Refugee movements have been a neglected are of study.     

The Paradox of Contemporary Immigrant Political Mobilization: Organized Labor, Undocumented Migrants, and Electoral Participation in Los Angeles

This article illuminates a paradox in the contemporary political mobilization of new Americans. While labor unions are taking an increasingly active role in the successful mobilization of foreign‐born residents in electoral politics, a substantial number of these newly mobilized Americans are undocumented migrants and residents, and thus are members of a growing and permanently disenfranchised working class. While this marginalized labor force benefits capital, an expanding long‐term, non‐citizen population presents a serious challenge to democratic politics. In this article, I discuss a case study which demonstrates both sides of this paradox. Facilitated by broader Latino political mobilization, their membership in progressive labor unions, and labor's shifting political strategy, many undocumented residents of Los Angeles are participating in candidate endorsements, campaign rallies, and "get out the vote" efforts, even though they are unable to vote on election day. Their actions portend future reconfigurations of the boundaries which surround citizenship and suffrage.     

LIFE CYCLE AND MIGRATION TO URBAN AND RURAL AREAS: ESTIMATION OF A MIXED LOGIT MODEL ON FRENCH DATA*

ABSTRACT This paper examines which types of individuals are attracted to or repelled from rural and urban areas in France. Migration decisions among urban centers, suburbs, and rural areas are examined for three age groups. Differences between locations are assumed to be driven by agglomeration economies and externalities resulting from densities. We therefore stress the role of labor‐market size, land markets, and commuting time in migration decisions. The results from multinomial mixed logits show that large labor markets attract the youngest and in particular educated individuals. Larger family size favors migration from city centers to suburbs, whereas divorce and widowhood increase the probability of moving to an urban center.     

TWO-EARNER FAMILIES IN THE HOUSING MARKET

The 1970's has been a period in which three trends have coincided: housing prices have been escalating, wives have continued to enter the labor force, and legislation prohibiting discrimination in mortgage markets on the basis of sex and marital status has been enacted. In this paper, we examine the role of the two-earner family–one in which both husband and wife work–in the housing market of the 1970's, and the interrelation of this household type with other factors shaping the current high demand for housing. We also speculate on the role of the two-earner family in the housing market of the 1980's. We conclude that two-earner families are in a position to increase their housing outlays in the future, that the continued growth in the number of two-earner families will add to future housing demand, but that many two-earner families may be divorced couples of the future. This suggests that, while there will be a strong impact on single-family home demand, there will also be some restructuring of demand toward rental housing and cooperative/condominium ownership.     

Time,hedonic migration,and household production

"A hedonic migration model is developed where regional amenities are viewed as influencing household production within the framework of the new demand theory. The inputs to household production are goods, time and housing. It is shown that economic growth in the economy as a whole will increase the relative attractiveness of regions that are relatively time-saving, in the sense that they have a lower time elasticity of household production. Hence, migration will flow into time saving regions and housing costs in those regions will rise as real GDP grows." The implied geographical focus is on the United States.     

Spaces of Labor Activism, Mexican‐American Women and the Farm Worker Movement in South Texas Since 1966

This paper studies the farm worker unionization experience and the historical development of Mexican‐American women's activism in South Texas to elaborate more precisely the relationship among socio‐spatial practices, political activism and labor's geography. Drawing upon archival documents and interviews, the paper describes how Mexican‐American farm workers used public space for political activity; however, radical unionization efforts also domesticized other spaces for women's activities. The paper chronicles how Mexican‐American women in South Texas transformed the farm worker center from a "domesticated space" into one of empowerment. In short, women in the union made the farm worker center into a space that challenged both the class‐based structure of larger South Texas society and masculinist practices within the larger farm worker movement. The analysis advances the imperative to better understand how workers "make space" to ensure their own survival. The paper advances the study of labor geography by arguing that working class mobilization reconstitutes dynamic social geographies within laboring communities themselves. In arguing this point, the paper illustrates the limitations of activism based solely on the use of public space and argues for more attention to the significance of other socio‐political spaces for labor mobilization.     

Prospecting for Economic Returns to Research: Adding Informational Value at the Market Fringe

Abstract.  Private markets constantly assess project investment opportunities across a spectrum of such possibilities. The market's perspective on the boundary of viable projects, however, may be more limited than socially optimal due to informational constraints. In the case of economic development projects in particular, this boundary could be extended by public researchers. This paper constructs a method to estimate the private and social value‐added of such research, providing a new means to understand and assess the public/private sector interface. The framework uses agents' evolving subjective perceptions through Bayesian updating to value research information, along with methods to estimate functional forms and relative optima. Two case studies of regional development research on value‐added agriculture in Colorado highlight the utility of the approach.     

Rethinking suburban development in Australia: a Melbourne case study

This article considers suburban development in Australia through the lens of its second largest city, Melbourne. Contemporary urban policies have focussed on the low densities within Australia's capitals and tried to achieve sustainability through urban consolidation policies. The article argues that these policies are often based on a distorted understanding of the relationship between housing markets and labour markets in Australia's large metropolises. The analysis of suburban development in Melbourne shows that suburban development involves complex links between changes in housing and job location and that urban sustainability policy needs to include actions designed to change the distribution of employment as well as the location and density of housing. The article shows that the vast spread of the Melbourne population masks closely linked regional labour and housing markets.     

IDEOLOGY AND URBAN LANDSCAPES: CONCEPTIONS OF THE MARKET IN PORTLAND,MAINE*

This paper concerns the role of ideology in the operation of urban land and housing markets. We argue that existing work in this area tends to be overly abstract and to reify ideology. To correct this, we advocate examining understandings of particular land and housing markets. We focus on Portland, Maine, and analyze discourses on the uneven costs of social development, inner-city redevelopment, a recent decline in the regional economy and Portland's place in that economy. Traditional pro-market interpretations dominate, but we also identify more politicized understandings - many of which are also pro-market. They are applied very selectively, for example to explain a crisis but not a boom. We conclude that politicized conceptions of market operations are not necessarily radical and may in fact be crucial to the survival of capitalism.     

THE GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF HUMAN CAPITAL: MEASUREMENT OF CONTRIBUTING MECHANISMS

This paper investigates how the geographic distribution of human capital—measured as college attainment—evolves over time. With U.S. data, I decompose generation‐to‐generation changes in local human capital into three factors: the previous generation's human capital, intergenerational transmission of skills from parents to their children, and migration of the children. I find significant persistence of local skills at the commuting zone (local labor market) level. Labor market size, climate, and local colleges affect local skill measures. Skills move from urban‐to‐rural labor markets through intergenerational transmission but from rural‐to‐urban labor markets through migration.     

Migration,common property,and communal labor: cultural politics and agency in a Mexican village

This article examines the politics of migration in an indigenous Oaxacan village (Mexico), and finds that the village acts, with measured success, to shape the timing and rhythm of migration. Villagers regard migration as necessary yet problematic. Migration provides income for village families yet undercuts traditions of community service and disrupts the integrity of local development networks that link the community to NGOs, state bureaucracies, and product markets. As a consequence, villagers engage in a cultural politics of negotiation and contestation that moulds both the meanings of migration, and the village social practices that regulate migration. Regulation operates via the setting of norms for village communal labor participation: those who do not undertake assigned tasks (cargos and tequios) face loss of usufruct of communal lands. This finding of strong sending community agency is contrasted with recent migration studies that emphasize the agency of migrant networks and transnational spaces. The paper presents a case study of migration that examines the exercise of community agency via collective labor participation, and the study concludes by calling for a greater analytical focus on the cultural politics of sending communities.