Socioeconomics of modern-day migration within the United States: determinants and economic implications across race and ethnicity

Abstract

There have been, and continue to be, inequalities based on race, ethnicity, and gender. This dissertation explores the racial and ethnic gaps in internal migration within the U.S. in addition to wage outcomes as a result of these differences in internal migration decisions. It provides an overview of economic and sociology literature in addition to historical findings in order to further analyze differences in behaviors by race and ethnicity. Chapters 2 and 3 will explore how the determinants of internal migration and location characteristics differ between Black non-Hispanics, White non-Hispanics, and Hispanics using micro-level restricted-use American Community Survey (ACS) data. These chapters extend the discussion of internal migration by not only observing the relationship between economic and noneconomic factors with the propensity to migrate, but how the relationship differs across race and ethnicity within smaller geographies than have been explored in previous literature. Using the same data, the fourth chapter explores the relationship between the propensity to move or migrate and wages, in turn providing an additional explanation to the racial and ethnic wage gap.