This proposal considers the nexus between two crucial facets of contemporary American population dynamics, namely immigration and aging. The focus of the project will be the residential mobility of the foreign-born population of the United States. The proposed research will: determine the extent to which foreign-born elderly differ from the native-born in age-specific residential mobility rates and in the origin- destination patterns of their migration flows; analyze differences between the foreign-born and native-born using statistical models which relate the migration decisions of the elderly to gender, to family and household structure, to individual economic circumstances, and to the characteristics of origin and destination areas within the United States; investigate the impact of migration by the elderly foreign-born on the economic and demographic structures of states and local areas, particularly for major ports-of-entry such as Los Angeles, Miami and New York; and, finally, investigate relationships between internal migration behavior and the use of public programs such as Social Security and SSI. Because migration, old age, and foreign-born status are all relatively rare, only the decennial census provides sample sizes adequate for our purposes. We will utilize the 1990 Census, primarily the public use micro data samples (PUMS), for our research. These data will permit total national coverage; afford good geographic detail in terms of origin and destination locations in the United States; permit researchers to link individuals with the context of their household of residence; and provide detailed information on total population characteristics for both origin and destination. We have already created a data file containing information for nearly 3.5 million persons aged 60 plus in 1990 and who resided in the United States on April 1, 1985 (and thus were """"""""at risk"""""""" of being internal migration during the 1985-90 period). About one-quarter million of these individuals were born outside the United States and represent the focal point for the proposed research.
