The role of attachment to place in migration decisions of the population of the Russian North

Abstract

The regions that make up the Russian North experienced considerable out-migration during the transition period. Many living and working in the Russian North had been lured to the region by a Soviet-era package of labor market incentives. This paper tests the role that attachment to place played in the migration decisions of the northern population. The paper draws upon both quantitative and qualitative data. The main source of quantitative data will be questions on place-of-birth and length of residency from the 1989 Soviet and 2002 Russian population censuses. Qualitative data from surveys will be used to determine factors behind migration decisions, as will the changing role of the Russian government in labor supply and migration to and from the North. The paper finds that place-specific social capital was quite significant as a factor in determining the number and destinations of persons migrating out of the Russian North. The rather sudden collapse of the Soviet Union's development and labor market policies toward its northern periphery and the migration decisions of the region's population constitute a ‘natural experiment’ that has applications to similar regions elsewhere.