Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 April 2015
Most studies of the economics of migration have implicitly assumed that migratory streams are homogeneous. However, migratory streams from one region to another consist of two distinct streams: a stream of first-time migrants and a stream of return migrants moving back to their area of origin. In fact, a substantial proportion of all U.S. migration is return migration, 14 percent from 1955 to 1960. Moreover, in states with histories of substantial out-migration, an even greater proportion of in-migrants are returnees, 35.4 percent between 1955 and 1960. Yet, economists have largely ignored return migration in their attempts to explain changes in the labor force.
This paper is based on research performed pursuant to University of Kentucky Contract No. NIH-70-2198 with the National Institute of Health, Department of Health, Education and Welfare. This paper is based on a chapter of the Ph.D. thesis of Brady J. Deaton. Other results of the study have been reported previously by Bordeaux and Morgan and Anschel and Bordeaux. The authors wish to express appreciation to the contributions made by a number of people toward the analysis presented in this paper. Special thanks are extended to Dr. Harry Hall, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky; Mr. Neil Schwertmann and Dr. Dave Allen, Department of Statistics, University of Kentucky, and Dr. Daniel W. Bromley, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Wisconsin.