Does cohort size matter to residential mobility? The case of Barcelona’s central city

Following up Easterlin’s arguments about the impact of cohort size on demographic issues, the paper aims to explore the implications of cohort size in the specific context of residential mobility. The research is based on the case of the inner city of Barcelona. There are two elements that make this case study relevant. Firstly, fertility decrease was extraordinary fast in Spain. That produced big size differences among cohorts born within a short period of time. Secondly, the intensity of residential mobility is low and very concentrated in the household formation ages. This characteristic emphasizes the importance of cohort size in terms of competition: after members of large cohorts have moved they no longer cause a strong pressure on the housing market.
The paper looks for differences in patterns of residential behavior between baby-boom and baby-bust cohorts in two main aspects: the timing of the movements and the territorial distribution within the Metropolitan Area of the individuals moving from the central city. According to the literature, large cohorts face greater competition than small cohorts in multiple aspects, among which the housing market. Thus, it is expected that boomers will move later and farther than smaller cohorts.