Internal Migration and Economic Development in Northern America

Abstract

Internal migration is at once one of the most important determi nants of population change and the one about which we know least. Every year approximately one American out of every five moves to a different resi dence, and a considerable fraction of this migration is highly significant in eco nomic and cultural terms. There are no indications that Americans will soon cease to be "a nation of nomads." The shifts of population within the country are discussed mainly in terms of three examples: the migration to the West, the population interchange between the United States and Canada, and the migra tion of Negroes out of the South.