LABOR FORCE MIGRATION AND ALLOCATIVE EFFICIENCY IN THE UNITED STATES: THE ROLES OF INFORMATION AND PSYCHIC COSTS

This paper examines the relative importance of information, psychic and other costs of relocation as mitigating factors (off-sets to spatial earnings differentials) within the migration decision. The methodology employed for this examination is based upon: (1) observation of relationships between the geographic allocation and personal characteristics of labor force migrants, and (2) inferences, drawn from these observations, on the relative importance of various relocation cost components. Empirical analyses of the migration decision based upon this indirect methodology provide important insights on both the determinants and allocative efficiency of interstate labor force migration in the United States.