IZA Journal of Migration
Volume 3, Issue 1, 2014

International migration desires related to subjective well-being (Article) (Open Access)

Cai R.* , Esipova N. , Oppenheimer M. , Feng S.
  • a Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, 411A Robertson Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544, United States
  • b Gallup Inc, 502 Carnegie center, Suite 300, Princeton, NJ 08540, United States
  • c Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, 448 Robertson Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544, United States, Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, United States
  • d School of Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Room 715, Shanghai, 200433, China, Department of Economics, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong

Abstract

Previous research on the determinants of international migration has largely focused on objective factors, such as income. We instead use subjective well-being (SWB) to explain international migration desires, an expressed willingness to migrate. We find that individuals with higher SWB have lower international migration desires. At the individual level, the SWB-migration relationship appears to be more robust than the income-migration relationship. At the country level, national average SWB better indicates international migration desires for rich countries, while income performs better for poor countries. We thus demonstrate the feasibility of employing subjective measures to study at least one aspect of an important social outcome, migration. JEL codes: F22, O15, I31 © 2014, Cai et al.; licensee Springer.

Author Keywords

Logistic regression International migration desires Income Subjective well-being

Index Keywords

[No Keywords available]
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84983239107&doi=10.1186%2f2193-9039-3-8&partnerID=40&md5=35fd9992f399cce7be29d7b284de5ae8
DOI: 10.1186/2193-9039-3-8
ISSN: 21939039
Cited by: 15
Original Language: English