Analysis of Net Interstate Migration: Comment

This study extends a recent study on migration according to race, i.e., white migrants on the one hand and black migrants on the other hand. This study specifies that white migration should be treated as a function of white unemployment rate and white income levels, whereas black migration should be a function of black unemployment rates and black income levels. The reasoning is simple: the levels of black and white unemployment rates and incomes are very different. The end policy-related result of the empirical analysis finds that white migrants prefer to move to states with lower welfare levels per recipient (arguably because such states do less income redistribution) whereas black migrants prefer to move to higher welfare states (where the welfare serves as a form of higher income and/or a form of higher unemployment insurance).