The Effects of Perceptions of Hazardous Waste on Migration: A Laboratory Experimental Approach

This study develops a methodology that allows migration decision-making to be studied in a laboratory experimental setting. Moreover, this methodology permits an examination of the importance of natural and man-made hazards in migration decisions- factors that have not been extensively studied as determinants of migration. The specific application is to the location of the U.S. nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Empirical results suggest that the repository may influence employment-related migration, but probably not retirement migration.