The Pure Effect of Social Preferences on Regional Location Choices: The Evolving Dynamics of Convergence to a Steady State Population Distribution

Arbeitspapier

This paper tracks the consequences of individuals' desire to align their location with their social preferences. The social preference studied in the paper is distaste for relative deprivation, measured in a cardinal manner. Location is conceived as social space, with individuals choosing to relocate if, as a result, their relative deprivation will be reduced, holding their incomes constant. Conditions are provided under which the associated dynamics reaches a spatial steady state, the number of periods it takes to reach a steady state is specified, and light is shed on the robustness of the steady state outcome. By way of simulation it is shown that for large populations, a steady state of the relocation dynamics is almost always reached, typically in one period, and that cycles are more likely to occur when the populations' income distributions are more equal.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 12331

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Existence and Stability Conditions of Equilibrium ; Computational Techniques; Simulation Modeling ; Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity ; General Equilibrium and Welfare Economic Analysis of Regional Economies ; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
• Subject: social preferences ; distaste for low relative income ; a cardinal measure of income relative deprivation ; interregional locational choices ; relocation dynamics ; steady-state spatial distribution

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Stark, Oded ; Budzinski, Wiktor ; Kosiorowski, Grzegorz
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2019

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/196828
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET