Adding Migration to a Model of Inter-ethnic Marriage

Meyer, R, Lessard-Phillips, L and Vasey, H (2015) Adding Migration to a Model of Inter-ethnic Marriage. In: Social Simulation Conference (SSC 2015), 14 September 2015 - 18 September 2015, Groningen.

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Abstract

This paper reports on preliminary results obtained with an agent-based model of inter-ethnic marriage incorporating empirical data on migration flows. Migration has been a main driver of increased ethnic diversity and opportunities for inter-ethnic contact and partnership formation in the UK. However, the few existing models of inter-ethnic marriage tend to ignore migration and apply the processes underlying partner choice to a static population of individuals. We demonstrate that particularly in highly diverse areas where population composition is substantially shaped by international and internal migration, these migratory flows have to be taken into account, thus resulting in modelling a dynamic population.