Estimating The Effect Of Distance On The Migration Of Higher Education Candidates

In this paper, we use a gravity approach to study the impact of distance on the migratory flows of candidates to undergraduate courses in Portugal. We apply estimation techniques recently used in the field of International Economics to estimate a more appropriate model specification that segments the effect of distance by field of study and gender. In line with the literature, distance is found to be a crucial factor to the migratory behaviour of candidates, with flows showing an elasticity between -2 and -1. We find flows to be particularly sensitive when distance is measured by time of travel. We also take segmentation seriously, finding significant differences across fields of education.