Measuring the impact of locational characteristics on migration: Interpreting cross-sectional analyses

Methods that employ cross-sectional data to analyze the impact of locational characteristics on migration decisions may produce seriously biased results because migrant decisions at any one point in time reflect historical as well as contemporaneous forces. A comparison of results based on a typical cross-sectional analysis and those obtained with longitudinal data shows that these issues are of empirical importance. An alternative interpretation of the results of cross-sectional migration analyses is provided.