The Effect of Internal Migration on Local Labor Markets: American Cities During the Great Depression

Boustan, Leah Platt; Fishback, Price V.; Kantor, Shawn

doi:10.3386/w13276

Cited by 82 publications

(128 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

120

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This assumption is consistent with many papers on regional or sectoral labor flows (e.g. Acemoglu et al (2004), Iyer et al (2011), Hornbeck (2012, Boustan et al (2010), and Borjas (2003)). Of particular note is the work of Cortes (2008), who finds that immigration reduces the price of immigrant-intensive services, which is inconsistent with both full factor adjustment and perfectly elastic product demand.…”

Section: Model Of Regional Migration Housing Prices and Convergencesupporting

confidence: 76%

Why Has Regional Convergence in the U.S. Stopped?

Ganong

Shoag

2012

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

REGULATORY POLICY PROGRAMThe Regulatory Policy Program at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government serves as a catalyst and clearinghouse for the study of regulation across Harvard University. The program's objectives are to cross-pollinate research, spark new lines of inquiry, and increase the connection between theory and practice. Through seminars and symposia, working papers, and new media, RPP explores themes that cut across regulation in its various domains: market failures and the public policy case for government regulation; the efficacy and efficiency of various regulatory instruments; and the most effective ways to foster transparent and participatory regulatory processes.The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not imply endorsement by the Regulatory Policy Program, the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, Harvard Kennedy School, or Harvard University. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AbstractThe past thirty years have seen a dramatic decrease in the rate of income convergence across U.S. states. This decline coincides with a similarly substantial decrease in population flows to wealthy states. We develop a model where labor mobility plays a central role in convergence and can quantitatively account for its disappearance. We then link this decline in directional migration to a large increase in housing prices and housing regulation in high-income areas. The model predicts that these housing market changes generate (1) a divergence in the skill-specific economic returns to living in rich places, (2) a decline in low-skilled migration to rich places and continued low-skilled migration to places with high income net of housing costs, (3) a decline in the rate of human capital convergence and (4) continued income convergence among places with unconstrained housing supply. Using Census data, we find support for the first three hypotheses. To test the fourth hypothesis, we develop a new state-level panel measure of housing supply regulations. Using this measure as an instrument for housing prices, we document the central role of housing prices and building restrictions in the end of income convergence.JEL Codes: E24, J23, J24, R14, R23, R52

show abstract

Section: Model Of Regional Migration Housing Prices and Convergencesupporting

confidence: 76%

Why Has Regional Convergence in the U.S. Stopped?

Ganong

Shoag

2012

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Altogether, we focus on a wave of internal migration, like Boustan (2009) or Boustan, Fishback and Kantor (2010), for example. This is a key difference of our study, and those cited above, from studies that have analyzed the impact of immigrants from other source regions to the West German labor market in recent decades.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Interacting Labor and Product Market Regulation and the Impact of Immigration on Native Wages

Prantl

Spitz‐Oener

2013

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Does interacting product and labor market regulation alter the impact of immigration on wages of competing native workers? Focusing on the large, sudden and unanticipated wave of migration from East to West Germany after German reunification and allowing for endogenous immigration, we compare native wage reactions across different segments of the West German labor market: one segment without product and labor market regulation, to which standard immigration models best apply, one segment in which product and labor market regulation interact, and one segment covering intermediate groups of workers. We find that the wages of competing native West Germans respond negatively to the large influx of similar East German workers in the segment with almost free firm entry into product markets and weak worker influence on the decision-making of firms. Competing native workers are insulated from such pressure if firm entry regulation interacts with labor market institutions, implying a strong influence of workers on the decision-making of profit-making firms.

show abstract

“…The critical assumption is that z it affects y it only through its impact on x it , and is not correlated directly with it . Boustan et al (2010) use the generosity of New Deal programs and extreme weather events as instruments for migrant flows into and out of US cities in assessing the labor market impacts of migration during the Great Depression. Boustan (2010), similarly, uses economic conditions in the South and past settlement patters to instrument for black movements into northern US cities, showing that white flight into the suburbs was indeed a response to black migration.…”

Section: Methods Of Causal Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Causal History of Africa: A Response to Hopkins

Fenske

2010

Economic History of Developing Regions

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Effect of Internal Migration on Local Labor Markets: American Cities During the Great Depression

Cited by 82 publications

References 21 publications

Why Has Regional Convergence in the U.S. Stopped?

Why Has Regional Convergence in the U.S. Stopped?

Interacting Labor and Product Market Regulation and the Impact of Immigration on Native Wages

The Causal History of Africa: A Response to Hopkins

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About