Mobility where mobility is illegal: Internal migration and city growth in the Soviet Union

This paper examines an important anomaly in the internal migration history of the former Soviet Union (FSU). While many cities were closed in the sens e of explicitly limiting growth of city population from migration, it was d ifficult to assess the effectiveness of these controls. We analyze a sample of 308 Soviet cities to isolate the impact of closure regulations controll ing for city site. We find that while there are pervasive patterns of city growth, the rate increasing through the 1960s and declining thereafter, the re are also pervasive differences between controlled and uncontrolled citie s, the later growing significantly faster in almost all cases, controlling for city site. JEL classification: J6, P20, R23.