Migration Flows and Their Determinants: A Comparative Study of Internal Migration in Italy and the U.S.A.

This paper has two goals: first to describe a theoretical model which derives relationships among migration decisions explicitly from utility maximization under uncertainty; and second, to examine why nations vary in their internal migration. To explain variation in internal migration, we hypothesize that the degree of monetization and industrialization of an economy is inversely related to the family cohesiveness; hence, a given percentage increase in relative income will have higher migratory effect in a relatively more monetized economy. The availability of higher initial information and better transportation systems in these economies strongly complement this effect. These hypothesis are confirmed by the estimates based on the U.S. and Italian data.

The Limits of Paternalism: A Case Study of Welfare Reform in Wisconsin

This paper uses a pooled sample constructed from the Food Stamp Quality Control data for the fiscal years 1993 to 2006 to assess the effects of welfare reform upon the employment, earnings, income, and poverty trends among poor, single-mother families, both in Wisconsin and nationwide. It finds that the employment and earnings gains of the Wisconsin families exceed those of comparable families nationwide. However, there has been no significant change in the average income of the Wisconsin families, and the number of extremely poor families has increased more rapidly in Wisconsin than in the country as a whole. These findings provide the basis for a discussion of Wisconsin\u27s antipoverty policy

Monitoring Wisconsin

In the Spring 2008 issue of Monitoring Wisconsin, the Institute for Survey and Policy Research (ISPR) of the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee (UWM) presents a summary of work in progress on Wisconsin welfare reform and its effect on earnings, employment, and income of poor single mothers by Dr. Swarnjit Arora (Dept. of Economics), Dr. Thomas Moore (Sociology Dept) and Laurie Turtenwald (Dept of Economics)

Monitoring Wisconsin

Continuing the discussions on the Wisconsin Economy, in this issue, Arora, Akubeze and Whitten studied the Impact of Wisconsin’s Smart Growth Law on local economy. Their paper, “Growth Strategies for Small Cities: Impact of Incentives to Attract Investment,” was presented at the 15th Conference on Small City and Regional Community, UW-Stevens Point, September 30 and October 1, 2004. The paper is also available for your perusal on our website at www.uwm.edu/Dept/ISPR

Evaluating the Temporal and Spatial Heterogeneity of the European Convergence Process, 1980-1999

In this paper, we suggest a framework that allows testing simultaneously for temporal heterogeneity, spatial heterogeneity, and spatial autocorrelation in &bgr;-convergence models. Based on a sample of 145 European regions over the 1980-1999 period, we estimate a Seemingly Unrelated Regression Model with spatial regimes and spatial autocorrelation for two sub-periods: 1980-1989 and 1989-1999. The assumption of temporal independence between the two periods is rejected, and the estimation results point to the presence of spatial error autocorrelation in both sub-periods and spatial instability in the second sub-period, indicating the formation of a convergence club between the peripheral regions of the European Union. Copyright Blackwell Publishers, 2006