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Title: Non-coresident family as a driver of migration change in a crisis: The case of the COVID-19 pandemic
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2023
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Abstract: Changes in U.S. migration trends during the COVID-19 pandemic show that many moved to less populated cities from larger cities, deviating from previous trends. In this study, building on prior work in the literature showing that the abundance of family ties are inversely related to population size, we analyze these migration changes with a focus on the crucial, yet overlooked factor of extended family. Employing two large-scale data sets, census microdata and mobile phone GPS relocation data, we show a collection of empirical results that paint a picture of migration change affected by family. Namely, we establish that people migrated closer to family at higher rates after the COVID-19 pandemic started. Moreover, even controlling for factors such as population density and costs of living, we find that changes in net in-migration tended to be larger and positive in cities with larger proportions of people who can be parents to adult children, our proxy for parental family availability. Our study suggests an underexplored explanation for internal migration patterns during a crisis and advances the demography-disaster nexus.
Url: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2310.03254.pdf
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Authors: Kan, Unchitta; Mcleod, Jericho; López, Eduardo
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Health, Migration and Immigration, Population Mobility and Spatial Demography
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