The COVID-19 pandemic has caused economic crises and increased inter-regional economic disparities. However, the catalyst effect that the pandemic has had on digitalization may change the traditional pattern of internal migration, in favour of rural areas. Using time-sensitive register data we explain changes in net migration rates of German districts from an economic geography perspective. We show that, since the beginning of the pandemic, rural regions benefited more from migration. In particular, younger and highly skilled individuals increasingly move to rural areas. This confirms that rural regions can benefit from increasing remote work, but these effects differ across region types and individual skill levels.

中文翻译：

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农村地区是 COVID-19、数字化和远程工作的赢家？来自德国近期国内移民的实证证据


COVID-19 大流行造成了经济危机并加剧了区域间经济差距。然而，新冠疫情对数字化的催化作用可能会改变传统的国内移民模式，有利于农村地区。使用时效性登记数据，我们从经济地理学的角度解释了德国各地区的净迁移率的变化。我们表明，自大流行开始以来，农村地区从移民中受益更多。特别是，越来越多的年轻和高技能人才移居农村地区。这证实了农村地区可以从增加远程工作中受益，但这些影响因地区类型和个人技能水平而异。