Family migration and mobility sequences in the United States

Significant changes in family composition in the past quarter-century raise important questions about life-course outcomes embedded in these family changes, especially in relation to the migratory and mobility patterns of individuals and families. The classic distinction between long-distance/employment and short-distance/housing-related moves may be eroding. Patterns of movement appear much less dichotomous and more diverse as family structures become more diverse. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics this study shows that the previous research, which suggested relatively simple links between long-distance and short-distance moves, is an over-simplification. Moreover, there is much more unintended movement at both migratory and mobility scales suggesting the economic models of employment migration may be missing important family dynamics in the migration mobility process.children, family migration, households, life course, moving intentions, residential mobility, sequences

Residential mobility in context : Interpreting behavior in the housing market

Residential mobility is the process whereby individuals and households adjust their locations in cities. These moves, in the aggregate, change neighborhoods as well as providing specific housing outcomes for households and families as a result of the move. The literature on residential change has evolved from cross-sectional studies of family structure and their housing circumstances, to life course analyses of the motivations for moving, the contexts in which the moves occur, and the intersection of life course change and housing choice. The combined work of demographers, geographers, economists and sociologists has provided a much clearer and more nuanced understanding of behavior in the housing market than was possible with cross-sectional analyses. This paper reviews the evolution of life course approaches to residential mobility and discusses the current state of the research literature.La movilidad residencial es el proceso por el cual los individuos y hogares ajustan su localización en la ciudad. Estos cambios, de manera agregada, transforman los barrios al tiempo que producen efectos específicos sobre los hogares y las familias. La literatura sobre cambios de residencia ha evolucionado desde los planteamientos transversales sobre la estructura familiar y las condiciones de su domicilio hacia análisis desde la perspectiva del curso vital de las razones para mudarse, los contextos en que ocurren los cambios y la intersección de los cambios vitales y la elección residencial. El trabajo combinado de demógrafos, geógrafos, economistas y sociólogos ha proporcionado una comprensión más clara y matizada de lo que era posible con análisis transversales. Este artículo revisa la evolución de los acercamientos a la movilidad residencial desde el curso vital y debate el estado de la cuestión en la literatura de investigación.La mobilitat residencial és el procés pel qual els individus i les llars ajusten la seva localització a la ciutat. Aquests canvis, de manera agregada, transformen els barris alhora que produeixen efectes específics sobre les llars i les famílies. La literatura sobre canvis de residència ha evolucionat des dels plantejaments transversals sobre l'estructura familiar i les condicions del seu domicili fins a anàlisis des de la perspectiva del curs vital de les raons per mudar-se, els contextos en què s'esdevenen els canvis i la intersecció dels canvis vitals i l'elecció residencial. El treball combinat de demògrafs, geògrafs, economistes i sociòlegs ha proporcionat una comprensió més clara i matisada del que era possible amb anàlisis transversals. Aquest article revisa l'evolució dels apropaments a la mobilitat residencial des del curs vital i debat l'estat de la qüestió en la literatura d'investigació

A comparative analysis of leaving home in the United States, the Netherlands and West Germany

We investigate how leaving the parental home differs between three countries with different welfare-state and housing systems: the USA, the Netherlands and West Germany. Using longitudinal survey data, we examine the transitions of leaving home to live with and without a partner. We find that, much more than in the European countries, union formation has become separated from leaving home in the USA. We also find a different impact of level of education and employment status on leaving-home patterns in the European countries with their social-welfare state system than in the US system in which market forces prevail. The differences are not just related to welfare-state systems but also to the sizes of the countries and the geographical dispersion of jobs and educational opportunities.Germany, household, leaving the parental home, Netherlands, union formation, USA

Socio-Spatial Mobility in British Society

The research reported in this paper examines the nature and extent of socio-spatial mobility in the United Kingdom. In contrast with previous studies, we do not only investigate who moves out of deprived neighbourhoods, but our models cover the entire spectrum of neighbourhoods and provide a more complete interpretation of the process of mobility across socio-spatial structures. We use the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) to classify neighbourhoods defined as small areas containing approximately 1500 people. We use the data from all available waves of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) to trace moves between these neighbourhoods, classified into deprivation deciles. We define upward socio-spatial mobility as moving to neighbourhoods with lower levels of deprivation. The focus on residential choices and the outcomes – residential sorting – allows us to measure the fluidity of the British social structure. We show that restricted ability to compete for the better neighbourhoods combines with residence in neighbourhoods with relatively high degrees of deprivation to limit opportunities for social mobility. The analysis shows that education and income play critical roles in the ability of individuals to make neighbourhood and decile gains when they move. There are also powerful roles of being unemployed and being (and becoming) a social renter. Both these latter effects combine to seriously restrict the possibilities for socio-spatial movement for certain groups. The results suggest serious structural barriers to socio-spatial mobility in British society, barriers which are directly related to the organisation of the housing market.residential sorting, residential mobility, socio-economic status, deprivation, neighbourhoods

In Los Angeles, increasing neighborhood diversity means that segregation is on the decline

The makeup of American communities is changing – some communities are becoming more diverse, whilst others are becoming more segregated. In new research, William A.V. Clark, Eva Andersson, John Osth and Bo Malmberg examine trends in neighborhood diversity in Los Angeles since 2000. They find that only one third of people now live in strongly segregated neighborhoods, down from 40 percent in 2010, and that this increasing diversity has mainly been driven by the decline of homogenous white and black neighborhoods

Moving for Employment Reasons

While most models of population migration assume that members of the labour force migrate to enhance returns to their labour, major surveys in the USA (PSID and CPS), in the UK (BHPS) and Australia (HILDA) all show that only around 10 percent of all individuals who change residence are motivated primarily by employment reasons. Of those moving between local labour markets only about 30 percent say they are motivated by employment reasons. We explore this apparent paradox by drawing on evidence from the Dynamics of Motivation and Migration Survey (DMM), which recorded the reasons people of working age, changed their permanent residence in New Zealand over the two-year period 2005 and 2006. The need to solve the employment problem before moving means that reasons offered retrospectively for moving usually reflect a wish to adjust consumption even in the case of those moving between local labour markets. For most people of working age employment remains a necessary condition rather than sufficient reason for moving and this is why the pattern of net flows among local markets appear to support theories of migration change even though few people say they move for employment reasons

Do women delay family formation in expensive housing markets?

BACKGROUND Recent research by demographers and economists has examined the link between living costs and fertility outcomes. The literature has provided some evidence that high rents, or high housing costs, discourage fertility. OBJECTIVE I re-examine the hypothesis that delayed fertility (age at first birth) is related to the costs of housing measured either as rents or sales prices. METHODS I use data from the American Community Survey for 2006-2008 to construct mean age at first birth for women in a sample of 25 US metropolitan areas stratified by rents and sales prices. The sales prices for those metropolitan areas were from the National Association of Realtors. I use models of both aggregate relationships of mean age at first birth and metropolitan housing cost level measures and individual analyses of mean age and measures of ethnicity, education and labor force participation. RESULTS The effect of being in an expensive housing market is a delay of first births by three to four years, after controlling for education, ethnicity and labor market participation. However, the relatively modest fit of individual models suggest that while the housing market may play a role it is also clear that there is a complex structure to the decision- making around fertility, labor force participation and housing market entry. Overall completed fertility does not appear to be changed

Genetic Sharing with Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors and Diabetes Reveals Novel Bone Mineral Density Loci.

Bone Mineral Density (BMD) is a highly heritable trait, but genome-wide association studies have identified few genetic risk factors. Epidemiological studies suggest associations between BMD and several traits and diseases, but the nature of the suggestive comorbidity is still unknown. We used a novel genetic pleiotropy-informed conditional False Discovery Rate (FDR) method to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with BMD by leveraging cardiovascular disease (CVD) associated disorders and metabolic traits. By conditioning on SNPs associated with the CVD-related phenotypes, type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein, triglycerides and waist hip ratio, we identified 65 novel independent BMD loci (26 with femoral neck BMD and 47 with lumbar spine BMD) at conditional FDR < 0.01. Many of the loci were confirmed in genetic expression studies. Genes validated at the mRNA levels were characteristic for the osteoblast/osteocyte lineage, Wnt signaling pathway and bone metabolism. The results provide new insight into genetic mechanisms of variability in BMD, and a better understanding of the genetic underpinnings of clinical comorbidity

Ethnic Preferences and Neighborhood Transitions

In the past decade there has been a growing literature focused on explaining the patterns of residential separation in U.S. metropolitan areas. The research of two decades ago which focused on the locational structure of the mono-centric city represented by studies by Alonso (1964), Mills (1967), Muth (1969) and Wingo (1961) was mostly concerned with the way in which land uses as a whole are structured in the city. There was much less attention directed to the issues of residential separation, especially the separation of ethnic areas within metropolitan areas.In the last dozen years at least three research streams have developed to explore the issue of residential patterning and neighborhood change. One of these streams considers neighborhood change as the outcome of a set of exogenous factors such as income, population growth, changing job locations and housing change.A second research stream also includes exogenous economic factors additionally includes the role of racially biased household preferences, racial discrimination in the functioning of the housing market and by extension in the transition of neighborhoods.The third research stream specifically examines the way in which discrimination affects the patterns of separation.Paralleling the debates about the factors which influence the nature of residential change and residential separation are empirical studies of residential change itself. An important aspect of understanding residential change is residential behavior and the resulting changes in residential separation. Much of the emphasis has been on the role of tipping and explanations of tipping

Reexamining the Moving to Opportunity Study and its Contribution to Changing the Distribution of Poverty and Ethnic Concentration

For the past decade and a half, a concerted effort has been undertaken to determine whether policy interventions in residential location can solve the problems of inner-city poverty and racial concentration. Studies based on data from the Gautreaux litigation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)–sponsored Moving to Opportunity (MTO) program have provided an overall optimistic interpretation of the possibilities of improving inner-city lives via mobility vouchers and counseling. A reanalysis of the data from the MTO program, focusing specifically on African American households, suggests greater caution in the interpretation of the findings from either Gautreaux or the MTO program. No statistically significant difference exists between the percentage of poor or the percentage of African Americans in the current neighborhoods between MTO and Section 8 experimental groups. In some cases, there is no statistically significant difference between those who move with a voucher and those who move without any assistance at all. Although there is some evidence that MTO programs have brought specific gains for individual families, claims for the MTO program as a whole need to be treated with a great deal more caution than they have been to date