Quote of the Day: The divergence between voting and emigration

To rationalize the divergence between voting and emigration, you need something like Brennan and Lomasky's expressive voting theory.  The essence of the theory: When people decide how to vote, their main goal is to express their support for what sounds good.  When people decide where to live, however, they focus on practicalities, not symbolism.

How can the two differ?  The probability of decisiveness.  When you vote, the chance that you tip the outcome is near 0%, so you might as well just scream about your identity.  When you move, in contrast, the chance that you tip the outcome is near 100%, so you'd better consider cost and convenience.

(italics original)

This is from author economic professor and blogger Bryan Caplan at the Econolog