"What is a city but [what it offers to] the people?": spatial interaction gravity models on internal migration within Tuscany

Abstract In recent decades, the Gravity model has proved to be an essential tool in understanding and studying migration patterns and trends, becoming a widely used framework for researchers in this area. This paper contributes to the literature on the subject by applying a "Hurdle Negative Binomial Gravity Model" in order to investigate migration flow patterns within Tuscany from 2012 to 2020. In particular - taking into account the flow matrices between all the 273 municipalities of the Tuscan region - the main objectives are to define and investigate the factors that drive people to migrate from one municipality to another and, given the ever increasing importance of technology and digitisation, to focus on the role that the digitisation level of a municipality has in attracting new flows. The results show the deterrent effect of distance, confirming Ravenstein’s idea that "migrants move only short distances", and the positive effect of the municipalities’ digitisation level, confirming the idea that people prefer to live in more digitised cities.