Spanish Internal Migration: Is there Anything New to Say?

Abstract

Spanish internal migration has long been resistant to traditional economic explanations.However this paper examines the data from 1999-2006 after considerable changes in the Spanish economy. Moreover it examines migration at the disaggregated level of Spanish provinces rather than regions, the usual unit of measurement. Using a spatial error model as well as a spatial autoregression model it finds the differentials in wages and unemployment between provinces to be significant explanatory variables. Housing prices are also important in accounting for the dynamics of internal migration.

A Micro‐Simulation Approach to Modelling Spatial Unemployment Disparities

“…They conclude that the findings on the wage curve do not provide sufficient evidence to disregard the Harris‐Todaro model. Using data only recently made available, Mulhern and Watson (2009) find that a Harris‐Todaro process now plays an important role in determining internal migration patterns in Spain.…”

Internal Migration in Spain: Dealing with Multilateral Resistance and Nonlinearites

“…Then, Bentolila and Dolado (), Juárez () and Devillanova and García‐Fontes () confirm this conclusion, although the former raises some doubts about the intensity of these factors when explaining migratory flows. For their part, Mulhern and Watson (, ) prove that, apart from traditional economic variables, housing prices and distance (which can be considered a proxy for transportation costs) also influence the decision to migrate. By adopting a more microeconomic approach than previous papers, Antolín and Bover () and Bover and Arellano () demonstrate that personal characteristics not only have an important direct effect on migration but also an indirect one through their interaction with economic variables; specifically, these papers indicate that the higher the education level, the greater the probability of migrating.…”

“…First, the literature on internal migration in Spain is not very conclusive. Some papers emphasize the relevance of economic drivers (García‐Ferrer, ; Santillana, ; Bentolila and Dolado, ; Antolín and Bover, ; Devillanova and García‐Fontes, ; Mulhern and Watson, , ) while others point to the increasing role of amenities (Ródenas, ; De la Fuente, ; Lago and Aguayo, ; Maza and Villaverde, ). Second, the pattern and composition of internal migration in Spain has changed remarkably over the last decade; this is the result of the massive arrival of immigrants in the early 2000s (Reher and Requena, ; Reher and Silvestre, ; Amuedo‐Dorantes and De la Rica, ; Hierro, ) and their greater mobility (Recaño, ; Recaño and Roig, ; Reher and Silvestre, ; Hierro and Maza, ).…”

Editorial

“…Alan Mulhern (2009) poses the question: is there anything new to say about Spanish internal migration? He provides new evidence that economic variables are much more relevant than previously found in explaining migration flows that both originate and terminate in Spain, due to a combination of factors.…”