Migration, Economic Freedom, and Personal Freedom: An Empirical Analysis

Economic freedom increases market efficiency, growth, development, and individual prosperity. This study empirically investigates whether higher levels of economic freedom, as well as higher levels of personal freedom, act like magnets for persons residing in a free society to move. In other words, do the prospects of both greater economic and personal freedom in any given state relative other states act to induce a greater influx of migrants? This empirical study of domestic migration between 2000 and 2008 finds clear evidence that migrants prefer to move to those states with greater economic freedom on the one hand and greater personal freedom on the other hand