Post‐1980 internal migration patterns were unanticipated, and prevailing explanations of them fail to account for the effects of new international relationships. A human ecological theory is developed which suggests an explanation based on the sphere of sustenance activities in ecosystems and relative dominance in these activities. Larger net migration was expected for counties specialized in activities that operate in international ecosystems in which the United States is dominant and less in other types of counties. The results for post‐1980 migration in United States counties support these expectations and the utility of an expanded human ecological perspective.
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