Masters Theses

Date of Award

3-1968

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Agricultural Economics

Major Professor

Charles L. Cleland

Committee Members

Joe A. Martin, James Snell

Abstract

The people in the United States are a people on the move. During the short period of time from March 1964 to March 1965, nearly 38 million of a total of 188 million people moved from one house to another. The migration of individuals and families is essential to the proper functioning of the economy and moving is a necessary part of any migration. However, moving does not always involve migration in the usual sense of the term, although all migration does involve moving. Since migration is important to the economic progress of the economy and moving is a necessary part of migration, a study of the decision making process relative to moving should be of value in the understanding of migration. The further understanding of migration should be of value in increasing the economic progress of the society. There is evidence that many of the people who live in rural areas in the United States have very low incomes. Although rural America has 29 per cent of the population of the United States, it has over 43 per cent of the poverty. Rural poverty is especially prevalent in the South. For example, the rural areas of the South have more than half of the rural poverty in the United States. However, very little research has been concerned with their plight. Heady has suggested that most of the research carried on by public institutions in this country has emphasized living things such as plants and animals rather than people and families. He went on to say that the "truly complex problems of change and adjustment certainly surround the family." The present study was designed to increase our understanding of some of these complex problems. More specifically, it is concerned with the decision-making process relative to the moving of families in four low-income counties of Tennessee. There is a great deal of information available about the quantitative aspects of moving, but little is known of the process through which families in low-income areas go in arriving at the decision to move. There are still questions about who moves and under what conditions. Also, there is little known as to how long it takes to complete the decision-making process relative to moving and under what circumstances. This study should provide partial answers to these questions.

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