Jr. Rodgers et Jl. Rodgers, The effect of geographic mobility on male labor-force participants in the United States, J LABOR RES, 21(1), 2000, pp. 117-132
We use both fixed-effects and random-effects regression models to measure t
he effect of geographic mobility on earnings of labor-force participants in
the United States. The results support the human-capital hypothesis: six y
ears after moving, real earnings of male labor-force participants are about
20 percent higher than they,would have been had the move not occurred. Men
younger than 40, and men with family-unit incomes no more than five times
the poverty line, experience even larger benefits from moving. The geograph
ic mobility that is characteristic of the United States flexible labor mark
et,, in general, is beneficial to the movers.