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"The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of locational and individual characteristics upon interstate retiree migration, particularly in state-level public policy variables. Data regarding the characteristics of individual movers are drawn from the 1990 U.S. Census of Population and Housing 5% Public Use Microdata Sample. The household data are merged with location-specific attributes including both natural amenities and local fiscal variables." Three alternative models are developed, involving push factors, pull factors, and differences in site characteristics experienced by migrants. "The results indicate that both personal and locational characteristics are important factors determining the decision of elderly migrants to change their state of residence. While there is some limited support for the push and pull specifications, the difference model is found to provide the best overall fit.", (excerpt)

The authors examine the linkage between household location decisions in the United States and county-level public sector attributes. "This paper demonstrates a relationship between migration and public policy and suggests a role for migration in regional development.... We link migration to public policy by treating tax and expenditure variables as site attributes in a utility maximization model. We find that public sector attributes, through their effect on migration, are among the determinants of regional development.... An additional contribution of this paper is to suggest that if taxes and public expenditures influence migration, then a general theory of local or regional policy aimed at economic development must include explicit consideration of migration." Microdata from the 1984-1985 U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) are analyzed., (excerpt)