An Entropy Maximising Approach to the Recovery of Detailed Migration Patterns from Aggregate Census Data

Abstract

The paper illustrates the possibilities of using entropy maximising techniques to expand an abbreviated data source. The British Census publishes migration statistics only for flows exceeding a certain threshold and the first exercise performed in this paper attempts to discover these thresholded flows. This complete migration matrix is then used as an input into a second exercise designed to disaggregate the flow pattern according to the type of mover. Finally, a means of assessing the goodness of fit of the entropy maximising model is advanced.