Reports

Discussion Papers

No.574 Measuring Population Mobility Speed from Space

by Souknilanh KEOLA and Satoru KUMAGAI

March 2016

ABSTRACT

Ad-hoc population dynamics in Krugman’s type core and periphery models adjust population share of a region, based on its real wage rate deviation from national average, at pre-specified speed of population mobility. Whereas speed of population mobility is expected to be different across countries, for geographical, cultural, technological, etc. reasons, one common speed is often applied in theoretical and simulation analysis, due to spatially patchy, and temporally infrequent, availability of sub-national regional data. This article demonstrates how, increasingly available, high definition spatio-temporal remote-sensing data, and their by-products, can be used to measure speed of population mobility in national and sub-national level.

Keywords: regional data, regional migration
JEL classification: R10, R23

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