The influence of regional factors on individual mobility patterns considering East-West migration in Germany

Abstract

"The aim of this article is to study the impact of regional characteristics, especially regional income levels, on the migration of individuals from East to West Germany. The theoretical framework is based on human capital theory (Becker, 1962; Sjaastad, 1962), which was extended by Borjas (1987, 1990) using the Roy Model (1951), and, subsequently, by Chriswick (1978, 1999). Based on die analytical approach of Windzio (2006, 2007)5, various time-dependent and time-stable regional factors, such as income levels, income distributions, unemployment rates, distance to West Germany and density of population, are estimated. Multilevel regressions on three levels are used to capture the impact of regional characteristics on migration. This makes it possible to control for changes in population in a region over time, as well as for variations in population between regions. The main advantage of this model is that the impact of time-dependent labour market characteristics on individual decisions can be estimated. Usually, only timestable variables can be included in multilevel regressions on the macro level (c.f. Windzio 2006). The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) waves from 1992 to 2006 provide the data for the empirical analyses. While most previous studies consider only periods up to 2001, more recent data is also included in this analysis. Supplementary information on labour market characteristics is provided by the Federal Employment Agency6, and information on the density of population and distance to West Germany is drawn from the Federal Urban Planning Report (Städtebaulicher Bericht der Bundesregierung, 2004)." (Text excerpt, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Melzer, S. (2010): The influence of regional factors on individual mobility patterns considering East-West migration in Germany. In: T. Salzmann, B. Edmonston & J. Raymer (Hrsg.) (2010): Demographic aspects of migration, p. 303-326.