Networks as determinants of rural migration

Abstract

Abstract This paper focuses on networks as determinants of rural migration and the importance of networks in a rural development perspective. Furthermore the impact of public goods and amenities on migra-tion decisions in rural regions is investigated. Special attention is paid on heterogeneity in peoples migration-decisive components. Data base is a non-farm household-survey of four rural communities in Poland. The estimations show that migration decisions are influenceable in different ways: Social networks as well as socio-economic components and the regional public-good endowment are impor-tant drivers of migration, but the direction and amount of influence depends on individual-preferences and on individual network-structures - among other things especially on the network-localization. Keywords: Migration, Rural Development, Social Networks, Latent Class Model JEL classification: R23, D83, H41 Introduction It is a common observation in all EU-member states that population of rural areas is in a continuous and sharp decline, mainly caused by net-migration flows from rural to urban areas (European Com-mission, 2008). Results are regional disparities or rather their intensification; this applies mainly for factors like income opportunities, the availability of infrastructural and social services, the social envi-ronment, the availability of recreational and cultural activities, the environmental quality, in all, the regional quality of life. Since its beginning in the late 1960s the European regional and rural-development policy aims therefore among other things specially on reduction of regional disparities and the improvement of quality of life in rural regions. The rural development program of the present period 2007-2013, especially the Axis 3 has still as a central objective to develop a ‘living country-side’ and to help to maintain and improve the social and economic fabric, in particular in the more remote rural areas to face the depopulation (European Commission, 2006). So, the control of out-migration from rural to urban areas or the initiation of inmigration to rural regions is realized as an important tool for rural development but until today it has been fulfilled only with little success. Therefore, to be able to design rural development policies that effectively adjust regional migrations, a comprehensive understanding of household's migration choices is needed. The general importance of regional quality of life to determine peoples’ migration decisions is well and long-recognized at both academic and political levels. One of the most popular rationales for mi-gration is Tiebout's observation that people vote with their feet, e.g. migrate to places where expected quality of life is highest (Tiebout, 1956). But the quality of life within a region not only leads to mi-gration but also is affected from migration in- and outflows: E.g. in- or outmigration of well-educated and wealthy households corresponds to a resource gain or drain, respectively. Furthermore, famous contributions of the New Economic Geography show that micro-migration choices might have strong externalities at the macro level, i.e. from a welfare economic perspective rural out-migration might be both - too high and too low, respectively. During the last years the idea that social network relations have a significant impact on the behavior of individual agents and corresponding social outcomes has increasingly attract interest. Especially, also the European Commission has recognized the importance of social networks by promoting economic and political cooperation and thus economic development.