Does interstate migration alter U.S. state-level income inequality? A paired origin-destination perspective

IF 6.5 1区经济学 Q1 DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Habitat International Pub Date : 2025-06-09 DOI:10.1016/j.habitatint.2025.103436

Aoyu Hou , Zisheng Song , Eddie C.M. Hui

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Reducing income inequality, making cities and settlements attractive, and ensuring quality education are three of Sustainable Development Goals (17 SDGs). Many scholars and policymakers have discussed and explored the determinants of income inequality in U.S. from different perspectives. However, as an important indicator to influence local income distribution, the mode of migration is rarely discussed. In addition, it remains unclear whether this inequality-migration nexus will be mitigated or intensified by education. Thus, this paper will utilize the bilateral migration data from the Internal Revenue Service of the U.S. from 1990 to 2018 to investigate the migration-inequality nexus. One additional concern is the moderating effects of migrant educational background, which would be the fundamental indicator of migration intentions. Finally, this study finds that interstate migration can significantly positively affect income inequality. More specifically, such income inequality would be exacerbated in the destination states because skilled workers are more likely to move to seek higher wages compared to unskilled workers. This finding echoes the existing theory of Skill-biased Technological Change (SBTC). Moreover, it found that the influences of interstate migration can differ in migrant demographic characteristics and the origin-destination locations.

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州际移民是否改变了美国州一级的收入不平等？一个成对的原点-目的地透视图

减少收入不平等，使城市和住区具有吸引力，确保优质教育是可持续发展目标（17项可持续发展目标）中的三项。许多学者和政策制定者从不同的角度讨论和探讨了美国收入不平等的决定因素。然而，作为影响地方收入分配的重要指标，移民模式却很少被讨论。此外，目前尚不清楚教育是否会减轻或加剧这种不平等与移民之间的联系。因此，本文将利用美国国税局1990年至2018年的双边移民数据来研究移民与不平等之间的关系。另一个值得关注的问题是移民教育背景的调节作用，这将是移民意图的基本指标。最后，本研究发现，州际移民对收入不平等具有显著的正向影响。更具体地说，这种收入不平等在目的地国家会加剧，因为与非技术工人相比，技术工人更有可能寻求更高的工资。这一发现与现有的技能偏向技术变革理论（SBTC）相呼应。此外，研究发现，州际移民的影响可能因移民人口特征和始发目的地而异。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Habitat International Multiple-

CiteScore

10.50

自引率

10.30%

发文量

151

审稿时长

38 days

期刊介绍： Habitat International is dedicated to the study of urban and rural human settlements: their planning, design, production and management. Its main focus is on urbanisation in its broadest sense in the developing world. However, increasingly the interrelationships and linkages between cities and towns in the developing and developed worlds are becoming apparent and solutions to the problems that result are urgently required. The economic, social, technological and political systems of the world are intertwined and changes in one region almost always affect other regions.