Abstract
This empirical study investigates the Tiebout-Tullock hypothesis as it might have applied to net domestic state in-migration rates over the period 1990 through 1999. It appears that the net state in-migration rate has been directly related to the ratio of the total state plus local government outlays per capita on public education in a state to that state’s total state plus local government tax burden per capita. Other variables included in the study, including the previous-period median single-family housing price inflation rate, a measure of previous-period growth in real income per capita, and quality-of-life variables reflecting violent crime rates and sunnier climates, also seem to be significant determinants of the net state in-migration rate. Thus, for the study period, it appears that the Tie bout-Tullock hypothesis played a significant role in determining internal migration patterns.
Highlights
There exists an extensive body of literature dealing with the determinants of internal migration. Greenwood (1975) and Cebula (1979) provide surveys of earlier-period studies
The empirical findings regarding the Tiebout-Tullock hypothesis for the pre-1990 period are that: poor migrants have tended to be attracted to areas offering higher levels of public assistance; most migrant groups have been attracted to areas with higher per capita outlays on public education; and most migrant groups, especially the elderly and higherincome migrants, prefer areas with lower tax burdens
The so-called Tiebout (1956, p. 418) hypothesis can be stated, as follows: "The consumer-voter may be viewed as picking that community which best satisfies his preference pattern for public goods." Tullock (1971) effectively restates the hypothesis in a way that emphasizes that the choice consumer-voters make is one of assessing bundles of local public goods and services and tax liabilities
Summary
There exists an extensive body of literature dealing with the determinants of internal migration. Greenwood (1975) and Cebula (1979) provide surveys of earlier-period studies. Greenwood (1975) and Cebula (1979) provide surveys of earlier-period studies. There are a number of these studies that have yielded potentially profound public policy implications, namely, those studies that investigate the so-called Tiebout or Tiebout-Tullock hypothesis. The empirical findings regarding the Tiebout-Tullock hypothesis for the pre-1990 period are that: poor migrants have tended to be attracted to areas offering higher levels of public assistance; most migrant groups have been attracted to areas with higher per capita outlays on public education; and most migrant groups, especially the elderly and higherincome migrants, prefer areas with lower tax (especially property tax and income tax) burdens. To the extent that the excess of the perceived net value of local public goods
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