HOUSEHOLD MIGRATION AND THE LOCAL PUBLIC-SECTOR - EVIDENCE FROM SWEDEN, 1981-1984

In this paper, the relationship between public sector attributes and household characteristics, and Swedish household migration, 1981-4, is studied. We report results separately for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas because the per capita levels of the tax base and intergovernmental grants are theoretically important migration determinants where population is sparse, whilst the tax rate may be more important where population is dense. Because fiscal influences are likely to be stronger for short-distance migration, we apply multinomial logit to a three-way choice set: staying and migrating short and long distances. Empirical results support our fiscal hypotheses and are consistent with previous findings on household characteristics.