Masters, Stanley H. 1972. "Are Black Migrants from the South to the Northern Cities Worse Off Than Blacks Already There?" Journal of Human Resources 7(4):411-423.

Among Negroes living in an SMSA outside the South in 1960, those born in the South had higher incomes and less unemployment than those born in the North--with or without standardizing for differences in age, years of school, and a number of other variables. Recent migrants, defined as those living in an SMSA in 1960 but not in 1955, did have lower incomes than those who were in SMSAs in both years, although the differential is larger for whites than for Negroes. Several possible explanations for these results are discussed.

The author is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Notre Dame. The statistical part of this study was performed at Rutgers University pursuant to a contract with the Office of Economic Opportunity. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and should not be construed as representing the opinions or policy of any agency of the United States government. The research also was supported in part by funds granted to the Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin, by the Office of Economic Opportunity pursuant to the provisions of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. The author is indebted to Kate Tallmadge, Mildred Evans, and Burt Barnow for computer programming, to Ronald Rudolph for research assistance, and to Patricia Koshel and Bette Mahoney of OEO and his colleagues at Rutgers and Wisconsin for advice and encouragement. Particularly helpful comments were received from Irwin Garfinkel, Michael Taussig, the referees, and from Kenneth Brown and other participants at a research seminar at Notre Dame.

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