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Migration rates are highest among young adults, especially students, and their location choices affect the regional distribution of human capital, growth and local public sector budgets. Using Swedish register data on young adults, the choice of whether to enroll in education and the choice of location are estimated jointly. The results indicate a systematic selection into investment in further education based on school grades and associated preferences for locations with higher per capita tax bases. For students, the estimates indicate lower preferences for locations with higher shares of older people.  The importance of family networks for the choice of location is confirmed. 

The spatial distribution of human capital plays a fundamental role for regional differences in economic growth and welfare. This paper examines how individual ability indicated by the grade point average (GPA), from comprehensive school, affects the probability of migration among young university graduates in Sweden. Using detailed micro data available from the Swedish population registers, the study examines two cohorts of individuals who enrol in tertiary education. The results indicate that individual abilities reflected by the GPA are strongly influential when it comes to completing a university degree and for the migration decision after graduation. Moreover, there is a positive relationship between the GPA and the choice of migrating from regions with a relatively low tax base and a relatively small share of highly educated people in the population. Analogously, individuals with a high GPA tend to stay at a higher rate in more flourishing regions.

The present paper estimates the relationship between migration across labour-market regions and the subsequent changes in earnings in Sweden by using the individual’s grade point average (GPA) from the final year of comprehensive school as a proxy for ability. This measure aims to capture heterogeneity in the effects of mobility on earnings for individuals conditional on educational attainment and other observed traits. Register data from Sweden, including two whole cohorts of individuals, is used. A difference-in-difference propensity score matching estimator is applied to estimate the relationship between income and migration up to seven years after migrating. The results show variation between different ability groups with respect to the return to regional migration. There are indications of larger gains for individuals holding top grades, while the bottom half seems to benefit less, or have slightly negative returns. The difference in return to migration across GPA quartiles is larger for women than for men.

This paper contributes to a recent and growing literature addressing the phenomenon of high-credentialed power couples. It seeks to determine the extent to which precursors of power couple formation and location choice of couples at midlife are evident in young people during their formative school years. Its second objective is to extend the analysis of location choice by modeling location choice among different sizes of labor market areas, given different power status of the couples.

     Based on analysis of Swedish register data, we produce evidence that power spouses evolve from the population of high achieving school age individuals, the latter identified by high academic performance during the years of compulsory schooling. Other factors such as parental education and family income also play a role. In addition, there appear to be regional disparities in the evolution of power couples. The evidence also points to the presence self-selection arising from unmeasured heterogeneity, both in spouse matching and to a lesser extent in location choice. Regarding location choice, the results indicate that power couples display a disproportionate tendency to migrate from their regions of origin to large cities.