New, Repeat, and Return Migration: A Study of Migrant Types

turn migrants in Canada. The non-return classification, however, does not completely adjust for the possible differences in the propensity to migrate. This paper classifies migrants in the United States into three groups by race: (1) migrants returning to their state of birth; and non-return migrants separated into (2) migrants moving for the first .time (new migrants), and (3) migrants making at least their second move (repeat migrants). This separation of migrants corrects possible differences in the propensity to migrate and thus reduces specification bias. The purpose of this paper is to analyze for each type of migrant by race the determinants of mobility. Comparisons are made between migrant types to delineate differences in the relative importance of the explanatory variables on migration rates.