Changing patterns of migration between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas in the United States: Recent evidence

Data from the 1975 Current Population Survey confirm that, during 1970–1975, there was a reversal of the traditional net migration stream between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas in the United States. During this period, there was net in-migration of 1,600,000 persons to nonmetropolitan areas, in contrast to net out-migration of 350,000 persons from these areas in 1965–1970. Reversal was caused by a 12 percent decrease in the number of nonmetropolitan out-migrants and a 23 percent increase in the number of SMSA residents moving to nonmetropolitan territory over 1965–1970 levels. While some changes in the size of migration streams were due to changes in age structures and population bases in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, they were caused primarily by real shifts in outmigration propensities at practically all ages in both areas.     

A FINE-TUNED ESTIMATOR OF A GENERAL CONVERGENCE RATE

A general rate estimation method based on the in‐sample evolution of appropriately chosen diverging/converging statistics has recently been proposed by D.N. Politis [C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I, vol. 335, pp. 279–282, 2002] and T. McElroy & D.N. Politis [Ann. Statist., vol. 35, pp. 1827–1848, 2007]. In this paper, we show how a modification of the original estimators achieves a competitive rate of convergence. The modified estimators require the choice of a tuning parameter; an optimal such choice is generally a non‐trivial problem in practice. Some discussion to that effect is given, as well as a small simulation study in a heavy‐tailed setting.     

Trust and embedded markets: A multi-method investigation of consumer transactions

Previous work shows that, as the buyer's uncertainty about the quality of some good or service increases, so does the tendency to purchase that good or service via embedded transactions, rather than from strangers. While this previous work explains variation in embedded exchange across different types of purchases, it does not address variation in embedded exchange across persons. Our research integrates the embeddedness and trust literatures to explain variation in within-network exchanges based on an interaction of the purchaser's generalized trust and the level of uncertainty entailed in the purchase (i.e., whether there exists an incentive for the seller to misrepresent the quality of some good or service). For purchases involving uncertainty, low-trusters will tend to forgo risky transactions with strangers, opting instead for the increased certainty of embedded markets. High-trusters, on the other hand, will be more likely to transact with strangers (despite the increased risk), from whom they can often find better deals. We should not expect any differences between high- and low-trusters for products that do not entail uncertainty. Results from two data sources, responses from a nationally representative survey of the U.S. population and behavioral responses in new laboratory experiments, provide support for the arguments.