There's no place like home? Reservation institutions and American Indian migration, 1985-1990

While previous economic studies on reservation economies have researched the role of institutions in reservation development and tribal choice, these studies have not investigated the manner in which reservation institutions might affect individual choice. In this dissertation, I analyze--at both a theoretical and empirical level--the influence non-market reservation institutions have on the economic decision making of reservation area American Indians. In particular, I use the 1990 Integrated Public Use Microdata Series to analyze interstate out-of-reservation area migration by American Indians over the 1985 to 1990 period. By focusing on the determinants of off-reservation migration, I fill a void in the economics literature on the influence of reservation institutions on individual choice. At the same time, I add to the existing literature on reservation underdevelopment by considering the extent to which poor economic conditions on reservations motivate migration.;Using a three-staged regression process, two hypotheses are considered: (1) non-market and cultural reservation institutions affect an American Indian's decision to migrate from a reservation area; (2) American Indian and white reservation area household heads respond differently to migration variables.;I find that while, consistent with other migration studies, personal characteristics explain most of the variation in the probability to migrate, non-market institutions affect American Indian migration. In particular, American Indian household heads living in reservation areas characterized by a greater extent of cultural cohesiveness are both less likely to migrate and less likely to respond to migration variables, all else equal. The results indicate also that whites and American Indians respond differently to migration variables and that the migration behavior of younger, single, childless, more highly educated American Indians more closely matches that of whites with similar characteristics. Finally, the data reveal that American Indians are less responsive to expected wage increases than are whites with similar characteristics.