Modern Gravity Models of Internal Migration. The Case of Romania

Abstract

Internal migration, although less investigated than international migration, is a key mechanism for adjustment to regional economic shocks, especially when other tools prove useless. But this process has very complex factors of determination which can be economic, social, demographic, environmental, etc. Based on previous international studies, in the case of Romania the robust variables proved to be the population size, the per capita gross domestic product, the road density, an amenity index and the crime rate from a static perspective, and the previous migration, the population size and the amenity index from a dynamic perspective. The techniques I have employed in making this study are the Least Square Dummy Variables (LSDV, or the fixed effects method) and the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM, or the dynamic method) both applied to panel data.

Keywords

• internal migration
• gravity model
• panel data
• fixed effects method
• dynamic method