Newton’s First Law of Migration:
The Gravity Model
Chapter 4
Places are connected
through spatial interaction
ideas
information
money
products
people
(p. 88)
Migration
A permanent change in
residence to outside one’s
community of origin.
Occurs at various spatial scales:
rural-to-urban
urban-to-urban
global (between countries)
Figure 4.1 (p. 89)
Factors of Place Desirability
Less-desirable places
More-desirable places
(p. 88)
immigration = migration across an international border
remittances
refugees immigrate unwillingly due to persecution
in their home country
(a PUSH factor)
other
PULL factors
PUSH factors
better job
high housing costs
pleasant physical setting
traffic gridlock
affordable housing
rising crime rates
desirable climate
high tax rates
proximity to family
poor climate
undesirable job
Migrant Selectivity
Figure 4.2 (p. 90)
Distance Decay
Figure 4.3 (p. 91)
Migration Streams
Figure 4.4 (p. 92)
Migration Streams
&
Counterstreams
Ten Largest Domestic
Migration Streams of
Persons Born in Cuba
Ten Largest Domestic
Migration Streams of
Persons Born in Mexico
Figure 4.5 (p. 93)
Gravity Model
(p. 95)
Migration to California
Figure 4.6 (p. 95)
Mobility
• Part of American experience
• Mobility is high in developed countries
with immigrant background
• Migration in the past as a predictor
of future migration.
U.S. Mobility Rates
Figure 4.8 (p. 98)
Largest interstate migration streams
Figures 4.9 (p. 99)
Net migration rates by state
Figures 4.10 (p. 99)
• Regional and sub-regional shifts in population
• Net migration
• Migration patterns reflect:
- location of states
- historical patterns of movement
- changing economic geography
- perceptions about places
Name That Key Term
Movements of ideas, information, money,
products, and people between places.
Spatial Interaction
A permanent change in residence to
outside one’s community of origin.
Migration
A move across international borders.
Immigration
A person who is outside his or her country
due to a well-founded fear of persecution
and who is unable or unwilling to return.
Refugee
A well-defined migration channel from a
specific origin to a particular destination.
Migration Stream
Migration that runs opposite
to a migration stream.
Migration Counterstream
The tendency for certain types of people
to migrate. Age, education, and other
sociodemographic characteristics are
________ ________ factors.
Migration Selectivity
The percentage gain or loss of population
due to migration. It is calculated as inmigrants minus out-migrants divided by
the total population, all times 100.
Positive numbers indicate net gain;
negative numbers indicate net loss.
Net Migration Rate
Reasons to move from a particular place.
Push Factors
Reasons to move to a particular place.
Pull Factors
Money sent by immigrants from
host country to home country.
Remittances
A model to predict spatial interaction,
where size (population) is directly
related to interaction and distance is
inversely related to interaction.
The declining intensity of an activity with
increasing distance from its point of origin.
Gravity Model
Distance Decay