Migration choices of husbands and wives in a dynamic and developing country are studied in the context of an economic model of the household. Data are drawn from the second wave of the Malaysia Family Life Survey. Exploiting the retrospective histories, we compare moves that take place before marriage with those made during the marriage; among the latter, moves that are made with the spouse are distinguished from those made alone. The evidence indicates that male mobility is primarily economic in motivation and related to labor market factors. Moves by women, however, seem to be more closely related to fertility or family considerations. Migration is apparently not simply an individual decision; the attributes of the spouse are an important influence on mobility, albeit in an asymmetric manner. Moving toward a broader definition of the household, we find the characteristics of the parents, parents-in-law, and also the (relative) age and gender of siblings all influence mobility in a rich, if complex, way.

James P. Smith is a senior economist at RAND; Duncan Thomas is a senior economist at RAND and a professor of economics at the University of California Los Angeles. This research was supported by NICHD Grant P01 HD28372. The authors are grateful to Iva Maclennan for spectacular programming support; Eileen Miech and Nga Vuong assisted in the preparation of the paper. The suggestions of the editor and an anonymous referee have been very helpful; we have also benefited from the comments of Angelique Chan, Julie DaVanzo, Gavin Jones, Christine Peterson, Mark Rosenzweig, T. Paul Schultz, Ken Wachter, Bob Willis, and seminar participants at several institutions. The data in this article can be obtained from the authors from March 1999 through February 2002.