Lovén, Ida
- Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Universities are often viewed as engines of local economic growth that could mitigate rural depopulation. However, university studies might make individuals more prone to move. We explore this issue in a quasi-experiment arising due to a sudden reduction in the number of student places at a regional university in northern Sweden in 1998. We find that the reduction in student places affected both educational choices and long-term migration. Women studied at a university further from home and became more mobile, while men neither studied nor moved. Also, to study at a distant university had a larger impact on migration than studies nearby. This heterogeneity contributes to the understanding of how education affects migration from rural areas.
Keywords
internal migration; education; quasi-experiment; rural population; Sweden
Published in
Papers in Regional Science
2020, volume: 99, number: 5, pages: 1339-1365
Publisher: WILEY
SLU Authors
Global goals (SDG)
SDG4 Quality education
SDG5 Gender equality
UKÄ Subject classification
Human Geography
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/pirs.12530
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/105270