Welfare and the Multifaceted Decision to Move

Whether poor single mothers move in response to welfare benefits has important implications forsocial policy in a federal system. Many scholars claim that welfare does not affect migration.These claims are not definitive, however, because the models underlying them rely on problem-atic assumptions and do not adequately control for nonwelfare determinants of migration. I address these shortcomings with an improved statistical model of individual-level migration. The results indicate that welfare does affect residential choice. Although the effects of welfare are much smaller than the effects of family ties, they are real and have the potential to cause nontrivial changes in welfare populations and welfare expenditures. Are poor single mothers more likely to stay inor move to states with higher welfare benefits?This question has important implications on at least two levels. As a policy matter, the answer will enlighten us about the effects of welfare on society and will assist efforts to understand whether states systematically lower benefits in order to avoid becom