Migration and Wage Growth: A Human Capital Approach

Abstract

"The purpose of this paper is to analyze migration as an investment in human capital using panel data. [The authors] focus on two issues. The first is the economic motivation for migration and the reasons some movers receive high returns relative to other migrants. The second issue, and the major focus of the paper, is a test of the human capital model explaining wage profiles of nonmovers, first-time, and repeat migrants." The data are from the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Males, 1966-1971 cross-section, and concern the United States.