| Author/Presenter |
Janice Compton (Washington University, St. Louis) |
| Co-author |
Robert A. Pollak (Washington University, St. Louis) |
| Title |
Why Are Power Couples Increasingly Located in Large Cities |
| Abstract |
Power couples - couples in which both spouses are college educated - are increasingly likely to be found in the largest cities. One explanation for this trend is that power couples are disproportionately attracted to large urban areas as a solution to the co-location problem. Understanding the flows that lead to the observed location patterns has important implications for city growth and employment analyses. With the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics (PSID), we analyze the dynamic patterns of migration, marriage, divorce and education in relation to city size and find that migration patterns do not lend support to the co-location hypothesis. Power couples are not more likely to migrate to the largest cities than part-power couples or power singles. Instead, the location trends can be explained by the higher rate of power couple formation - through marriage or educational attainment -in larger metropolitan areas. Once formed, power couples like all couples are relatively immobile. The weak link between migration and the co-location problem is stronger when we define power in terms of occupation - both spouses have a specialized occupation - rather than education. Regression analysis suggests that holding all else constant, there is a positive relationship between education and migration to large cities but for couples only the education of the husband is a factor. |
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