Ariell Zimran
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Internal Migration in the Internal Migration in the United States: Rates, Selection, and Destination Choice, 1850-1940
2023
Journal of Economic History 84:3, pp. 727-766
doi:10.1017/S0022050724000251
Revised version of NBER Working Paper 30384.

I study native-born white men's internal migration in the United States over all possible 10- and 20-year periods 1850-1940. Inter-county migration rates--after implementing a new method to correct for errors in linkage--were stable over time. Migrant selection on the basis of occupational status was neutral or slightly negative and also largely stable. But the orientation of internal migration changed over time, declining in distance and increasingly driving urbanization. In the 1930s, migration became less common and less urban oriented. These results provide a clearer understanding of historic US internal migration than previously possible.