This study provides up-to-date empirical evidence of the Harris-Todaro model of migration. Through this model it is stated that people migrate from rural areas to urban zones because expected wages are higher in urban areas and, also, they migrate where the probability of finding a job is higher and there are low levels of unemployment rate. In this regard, we took one country under consideration for testing this hypothesis and this country is Romania. The data used in the study consisted in a balanced panel database for all rural and urban areas from Romania, for the interval of time 2002-2021. By applying period seemingly unrelated regression equation is reached the conclusion that the basic model of Harris-Todaro holds in the case of Romania. People migrate because of push factors (low income and high unemployment rate in the origin) and pull factors (high income and low levels of unemployment rate in the destination). Also, the extension of the Harris-Todaro model is confirmed. Some policy implications based on our results are provided. Read more
Keywords:
rural-urban migration, Harris-Todaro model, period seemingly unrelated regression, Romania

JEL:
O15, C23, J61