Immigrant redistribution and life course trigger events: Evidence from US interstate migration

Abstract

Our focus in this paper is on the impact of life course trigger events demonstrates that the life course theoretical perspective provides relevant explanations for immigrant interstate relocation decisions in the United States (US). Utilizing longitudinal individual- and family-level migration, human capital, and life course transition data from the 1996-1999 and 2001-2003 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, integrated with state economic conditions and immigrant co-ethnic population concentration data, we apply a discrete-time event history approach to estimate departure relocation decision models for immigrants. The results provide evidence that family life course trigger events exert independent and more robust effects on the redistribution of immigrants than alternative individual and family-level human capital explanations.