Why Attracting Young, College-Educated Migrants Hurts Sun Belt Cities

At Pacific Standard magazine, how attracting and retaining college-educated young adults exacerbates economic inequality.

Theme: Economic development and migration.

Subject Article: "Jobs for young Southerners: Thanks for nothing."

Other Links: 1. "Burgh Diaspora."
2. "Migration as a Measure of Economic Health."
3. "We Got More Educated, We Are Better Off... Right? An Analysis of Regional Conversion of Bachelors Degree Attainment into Positive Labor Market Outcomes."
4. "Why It's So Hard for Millennials to Find a Place to Live and Work."
5. "Voting with Your Feet: Aaron Renn's New Donut."

Postscript: Over the past few months, I've been researching Pittsburgh's economic turnaround. What caused it? One important lesson is the difference between consuming human capital and putting human capital to work. Attracting college-educated migrants in and of itself seems to have a negative impact on a region. Jobs don't follow people. But where people follow jobs that require higher education, positive labor market incomes tend to appear. The zero-sum game of amassing the most educated workforce doesn't promote economic development. What does is research and development activities at universities and colleges.