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Voting with One's Feet
Author(s) -
Cebula Richard J.,
Belton Willie J.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
american journal of economics and sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1536-7150
pISSN - 0002-9246
DOI - 10.1111/j.1536-7150.1994.tb02596.x
Subject(s) - welfare , voting , unemployment , reservation , economics , census , demographic economics , population , tiebout model , human capital , capital (architecture) , labour economics , geography , demography , economic growth , sociology , political science , market economy , microeconomics , law , politics , archaeology , public good
A bstract .Unemployment on Indian reservations averages close to 45 percent, and welfare in its various forms is a more significant source of income for reservation inhabitants than employment. Given these circumstances and given the very low levels of human capital possessed by the American Indian population, there is reason to expect that higher welfare benefit levels would be attractive to Indian migrants. Based on 1990 Census data, this study empirically finds that, over the 1985–1990 period, American Indians, when making migration decisions, exhibited a strong preference for higher welfare areas. This finding lends support to the Tiebout hypothesis of “voting with one's feet” and provides support as well for the establishment of uniform real welfare levels across states.