Effects of regional creative milieu on interregional migration of the highly educated in Korea: Evidence from hierarchical cross-classified linear modeling

This study empirically investigates the effects of a regional creative milieu on the migration inflows and outflows of the highly educated between urbanized areas in Korea. To estimate the push and pull effects, we use the 5% Population and Housing Census (2005) and employ a hierarchical cross-classified linear model as an empirical modeling framework. The graduate migration between areas is generally affected by regional and individual characteristics. To this effect, the literature suggests that highly-educated individuals tend to significantly value diverse and creative regional amenities in migration decision making. Our results reveal that, regarding the push and pull effect for the highly educated, talent and tolerance in a region and a high level of the creativity index in a region are likely to increase the likelihood of in-migration and decrease that of out-migration by lowering the barriers to entry for the highly educated. Our findings emphasize the role of regions with well-established amenities as a creative milieu for attracting the highly educated and, thus, have significant implications for sustainable regional development policies.