In our new paper, we define a wide range of distance thresholds for migration research and conclude distance thresholds and cut‐offs needs to be carefully thought through, and are also very context specific.
Drawing on Census microdata, we demonstrate migration propensity varies across a number of distance thresholds, which differ in magnitude and direction depending on the migrant attributes being studied.
By comparing across 16 different distance cut‐offs we reveal there are instances where interpretation would differ depending on which threshold were chosen. These include, relative to base/reference categories: (1) variables where differences are significant at some thresholds but not significant at others; (2) variables where odds ratios shift from positive to negative (or vice versa) at a given distance threshold; and (3) variables where the odds ratios are in the same direction at a number of distance thresholds, but the magnitude varies.