A model of inter-regional migration in England and Wales

Abstract

The causes of internal migration in Great Britain constitute a topic still largely unexplored. This study attempts to draw together various possible causal variables which are of interest both to the demographer and the economist. Using the most reliable source of migration statistics, the Census of Population, an examination is undertaken into the effect of regional population sizes and distances in respect to one another, the simple gravity model, as well as the effects of the regional changes in employment in manufacturing industry in the 1950s on the gross flows of migrants for the Census year, 1961. The latter variable, coupled with the regional allocation of service industries, would appear to be an important addition to the economist in his attempt to pinpoint the most important economic influences on the migration movement in order to find measures which will regulate such movement.