PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Riley Wilson TI - Moving to Economic Opportunity: The Migration Response to the Fracking Boom AID - 10.3368/jhr.57.3.0817-8989R2 DP - 2020 Apr 09 TA - Journal of Human Resources PG - 0817-8989R2 4099 - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2020/04/03/jhr.57.3.0817-8989R2.short 4100 - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2020/04/03/jhr.57.3.0817-8989R2.full AB - Exploiting positive labor market shocks from localized “fracking” booms, I estimate that fracking increased migration to impacted areas, but there is significant heterogeneity across both demographics and regions. Migrants to fracking areas were more likely to be male, unmarried, young, and less educated than movers more generally. These local booms increased in-migration rates to North Dakota fracking counties by nearly twice as much as other fracking areas. Differences across geography in labor market impacts, commuting behavior, initial population characteristics, or non-linearities only partially explained this gap. There is evidence that heterogeneous information flows might be playing a role.