Population change in the Great Plains since 1950 and the consequences of selective migration.

This "study was initiated to explore the causes and consequences of persistent population loss in the Great Plains region [of the United States]. After classifying all counties by their growth patterns over the past five decades, we developed a typology that categorized counties based on the direction and magnitude of their population change.... We use this typology to explore the correlates of residential population change, and to examine the explanatory power of the variables found to be statistically significant."