Population Distribution Over Time: How Spatial Distance Matters

This study aims at assessing the evolution of the importance of spatial distance in citizens' location choices across time. We focus on the case of population distribution in Massachusetts. We handle a database including data for the years 1880-1890 and 1930-2010. By adopting a Bayesian strategy, we are able to state that Boston reinforced its attractiveness up to the 1960s, but since then Boston's attractiveness has no longer represented the unique determinant of population distribution. Referring to selected historical evidence, we put forward a few possible interpretations to endorse our results.