Networks as determinants of rural migration

This paper focuses on networks as determinants of rural migration and the importance of networks in a rural development perspective. Furthermore the impact of public goods and amenities on migration decisions in rural regions is investigated. Special attention is paid on heterogeneity in peoples migration-decisive components. Data base is a non-farm household-survey of four rural communities in Poland. The estimations show that migration decisions are influenceable in different ways: Social networks as well as socio-economic components and the regional public-good endowment are important drivers of migration, but the direction and amount of influence depends on individual-preferences and on individual network-structures - among other things especially on the network-localization.