| The rural-urban turnaround which took place in the 1970s was a change in migration patterns. Prior to the turnaround, migration patterns were dominated by movement away from rural areas to urban areas and away from the South to northern manufacturing areas. The turnaround resulted in migration patterns characterized by increased growth rates of migration into nonmetropolitan areas and decreased growth rates for large metropolitan areas, particularly those in the Northeast and North Central areas.;The general consensus in economic literature, which maintains that migration decisions are functions of both economic and noneconomic factors is supported by the results.;Several hypotheses which have been offered in economic and demographic literature as explanations for the turnaround are investigated in this study. The investigation uses tabular presentations, ordinary least squares regression models, and logit models in conjunction with 1980 census microdata. The results indicate that the turnaround was not a short-lived phenomenon, rather it continued throughout the 1970s. Nonmetropolitan suburbanization and manufacturing deconcentration are factors in the turnaround, but economic factors which affect the migration decision process are also shown to be important. Migrants do not sacrifice income in order to participate in the turnaround but they do experience less of an increase in income than migrants to urban areas. The importance of specific personal, household, and area characteristics in migration decisions are shown to differ between migrants from nonmetropolitan origins and those from metropolitan origins. |
