Here's a
piece on the decline of geographic mobility in the US. The focus is more on short distance moves than long distance moves. I don't know why the decline and haven't seen a recent discussion. I do wonder though whether the ending of the draft in the Nixon administration had anything to do with it--the draft was on my mind because I recently argued that a grandparent of several grandsons didn't need to worry about a Republican president getting us into a war and reactivating the draft.
The draft might have affect mobility of young men two ways:
- they got out of their home and into the world, even if they were never stationed overseas. That might have made them more comfortable with traveling and moving.
- they got to know and become friends with men from other parts of the country, perhaps informing them of job and/or educational opportunities outside of their community.
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