Spanish Internal Migration: Is there Anything New to Say?

Spanish internal migration has long been resistant to traditional economic explanations. However, this paper examines the data for the period 1999-2006 after considerable changes in the Spanish economy. Moreover, it examines migration at the disaggregated level of Spanish provinces rather than regions, the usual unit of measurement. Using a spatial error model as well as a spatial autoregression model it finds the differentials in wages and unemployment between provinces to be significant explanatory variables. House prices are also important in accounting for the dynamics of internal migration.