Do Local Amenities Affect the Appeal of Regions in Europe for Migrants?

36 Pages Posted: 25 May 2012

See all articles by Tobias Ketterer

Tobias Ketterer

University of Nottingham - School of Economics

Andrés Rodríguez-Pose

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Department of Geography and Environment

Date Written: May 2012

Abstract

This paper delves into the factors which determine the attractiveness of regions in Europe for migrants. Contrary to the literature on the US which has increasingly focused on the role of amenities, existing research in Europe tends to highlight the predominance of economic conditions as the main drivers of migration. Differentiating between economic, socio-demographic and amenity-related territorial features, we examine the appeal of various regional characteristics for migrants by analyzing net migration data for 133 European regions between 1990 and 2006. Our results show that, in addition to economic, human capital-related and demographic aspects, network effects and – in contrast to existing literature – different types of regional amenities exert an important influence on the relative attractiveness of sub-national territories across the European Union (EU). Our findings therefore indicate that locational choices in Europe may be much more similar to place-based preferences in the US than originally thought.

Keywords: amenities, economic conditions, Europe, inter-regional migration, location choice, regions, social networks

JEL Classification: O15, R23

Suggested Citation

Ketterer, Tobias and Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, Do Local Amenities Affect the Appeal of Regions in Europe for Migrants? (May 2012). CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP8964, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2066337

Tobias Ketterer (Contact Author)

University of Nottingham - School of Economics ( email )

Nottingham, NG8 1BB
United Kingdom

Andrés Rodríguez-Pose

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Department of Geography and Environment ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

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