Should I stay or should I go? Managing populations with urban to rural migration incentives

Sydney you’ve got to let me know, should they stay or should they go. In 2011, Sydney, the largest city in Australia, asked its residents, should they stay or should they go? Despite regularly rated as one of the world’s top ten liveable cities, the government was offering residents AUD$7,000 (£4,500 or ~one month’s average wage) to move to the country’s rural areas. From the region’s perspective the decision was two-fold: Inside the city there was apprehension that the government no longer had the capacity to serve its residents effectively. This was accompanied by the hope that moving residents could boost struggling rural areas, following a decade long drought.