Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/90771 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
Memorandum No. 01/2014
Publisher: 
University of Oslo, Department of Economics, Oslo
Abstract: 
The aim of this study is to determine optimal migration policies for an individual of known age-dependent mortality who accumulates capital by compound interest and also by skill-dependent income. By a continuing choice of several environments, which vary in intrinsic preference and in the rates at which they improve and reward skills, the individual have the option of developing skills, current earnings and residential preference by moving between the environments. Specifying the expected future utility which recognizes the preference for residence as well as for consumption, the corresponding dynamic programming (DP) equations are derived. The optimality of return migration is particularly investigated by studying the movement between two environments. The analysis is then extended to allow for several environments. The DP-equations are also modified to examine the effect of monetary as well as non-monetary (psychic) costs. In combining the essential causes motivating migration in a tractable dynamic control model that can be used for analysing the impacts of the various factors, this paper is believed to be an contribution to the migration literature.
Subjects: 
Residential preferences
development of skills
reward of human capital
optimal migration
dynamic programming
JEL: 
C61
J24
R23
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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