HIGH-TECHNOLOGY JOBS AND WORKER MOBILITY*

ABSTRACT. The premise of this paper is that one can discover much about the location determinants of high-technology industry by examining the location (migration) decision of workers with high-technology occupations. A model of the high-technology worker migration decision is developed that permits estimation of worker response to both personal and area characteristics, the latter chosen to mirror location factors often cited by high-technology firms as important for both the attraction and retention of their specialized work force. Logit estimates of this model between 1975 and 1980 are presented. The paper is concluded with a discussion of policy implications.     

The context of migration: the example of Ireland in the nineteenth century

"A classic case where out-migration interacted with many other geographical phenomena is provided by rural Ireland in the nineteenth century. The apparent turning point was the Great Famine of the 1840s, but the areas with the greatest suffering from starvation did not necessarily show the greatest population decline, suggesting that other forces were active. Considerable economic and social changes were already taking place before the Famine: fertility was being reduced, later marriage was becoming established and considerable emigration was already taking place. Immediately after the Famine those areas which had been hardest hit often reverted to pre-Famine conditions and did not show strong population decline until the 1870s. The Famine was a most serious event, but the modernization of Irish rural life, which linked emigration with changes in family structure, agriculture and population numbers, was more important in bringing about geographical change."     

The Encoding-Error Model of Pathway Completion without Vision

We present a model that accounts for errors in short-cutting to complete a triangular pathway by individuals deprived of visual input. The model assumes that systematic error arises from components of navigation concerned with encoding an internal representation of the pathway, rather than the computation of a homeward trajectory or motor output per se. Subjects' tendency to compress the range of actually produced turns and distances, in comparison to the range of correct values, is attributed to regression toward the mean of encoded values during encoding of segments and turns, in the face of uncertainty about the actual values. Individual-subject variations are attributed to differences in the encoding-function parameters, not to variations in the processes themselves. The model provides excellent accounts of data obtained with triangular pathways but fares less well when pathway complexity increases, at which point errors do not appear to be solely attributable to encoding processes. The sources of error identified by the model are likely to play a role in navigation more generally.