Selective in-migration and income convergence and divergence across Belgian municipalities

In this paper, we present an empirical study of the relationship between aggregate migration and the income distribution across locations in a region. We use cross-sectional data on growth of per-capita taxable incomes, over the period 1991-2000, from the municipalities of the Belgian province of Limburg. We use a non-standard beta -convergence framework, built on the notion of ‘weak absolute convergence’, to test the hypothesis of selective income migration. The model we develop allows us to separate out observed and unobserved heterogeneity in convergence rates. Observed heterogeneity is inc... Mehr ...