IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeborg/v209y2023icp533-546.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

No going back: COVID-19 disease threat perception and male migrants' willingness to return to work in India

Author

Listed:
  • Arora, Varun
  • Chakravarty, Sujoy
  • Kapoor, Hansika
  • Mukherjee, Shagata
  • Roy, Shubhabrata
  • Tagat, Anirudh

Abstract

This paper explores the causal link between the likelihood of re-migration to cities and the perceived threat of contracting COVID-19 using novel data on male reverse migrant workers in India. We find that reverse-migrants who believe there is a significant chance of contracting COVID-19 display a significantly lower likelihood of returning to their urban workplaces, regardless of their duration of migration. On the other hand, longer-duration migrants display a lower perceived chance of contracting COVID-19 than shorter-duration migrants. We also contribute to the migration literature by linking behavioural attributes to the decision to migrate. We find that more impatient individuals display a heightened belief regarding contracting COVID-19 and a higher projected likelihood of returning to work. Finally, we find that while both loss and risk-averse individuals have a lower projected likelihood of returning to urban workplaces, only loss-averse individuals perceive that their chance of contracting COVID-19 is lower.

Suggested Citation

  • Arora, Varun & Chakravarty, Sujoy & Kapoor, Hansika & Mukherjee, Shagata & Roy, Shubhabrata & Tagat, Anirudh, 2023. "No going back: COVID-19 disease threat perception and male migrants' willingness to return to work in India," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 533-546.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:209:y:2023:i:c:p:533-546
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2023.03.017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268123000902
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jebo.2023.03.017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joshua D. Angrist & Alan B. Krueger, 2001. "Instrumental Variables and the Search for Identification: From Supply and Demand to Natural Experiments," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 69-85, Fall.
    2. Joseph G. Altonji & Todd E. Elder & Christopher R. Taber, 2005. "Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 151-184, February.
    3. Filippini, Massimo & Greene, William H. & Kumar, Nilkanth & Martinez-Cruz, Adan L., 2018. "A note on the different interpretation of the correlation parameters in the Bivariate Probit and the Recursive Bivariate Probit," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 104-107.
    4. Mustafa Coban, 2021. "rbprobit: Recursive bivariate probit estimation and decomposition of marginal effects," London Stata Conference 2021 20, Stata Users Group.
    5. Goldbach, Carina & Schlüter, Achim, 2018. "Risk aversion, time preferences, and out-migration. Experimental evidence from Ghana and Indonesia," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 132-148.
    6. Smith, Richard D., 2006. "Responding to global infectious disease outbreaks: Lessons from SARS on the role of risk perception, communication and management," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(12), pages 3113-3123, December.
    7. Chiburis, Richard C. & Das, Jishnu & Lokshin, Michael, 2012. "A practical comparison of the bivariate probit and linear IV estimators," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(3), pages 762-766.
    8. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo, 2007. "The Economic Lives of the Poor," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(1), pages 141-168, Winter.
    9. Andrews, Donald W.K. & Stock, James H., 2007. "Testing with many weak instruments," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 24-46, May.
    10. Imbens, Guido W & Angrist, Joshua D, 1994. "Identification and Estimation of Local Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(2), pages 467-475, March.
    11. Diwakar Mohan & Jean Juste Harrisson Bashingwa & Nicki Tiffin & Diva Dhar & Nicola Mulder & Asha George & Amnesty E LeFevre, 2020. "Does having a mobile phone matter? Linking phone access among women to health in India: An exploratory analysis of the National Family Health Survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-16, July.
    12. Nancy Reichman & Hope Corman & Kelly Noonan, 2004. "Effects of child health on parents’ relationship status," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 41(3), pages 569-584, August.
    13. Carolin E. Pflueger & Su Wang, 2015. "A robust test for weak instruments in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 15(1), pages 216-225, March.
    14. Claudia R. Schneider & Sarah Dryhurst & John Kerr & Alexandra L. J. Freeman & Gabriel Recchia & David Spiegelhalter & Sander van der Linden, 2021. "COVID-19 risk perception: a longitudinal analysis of its predictors and associations with health protective behaviours in the United Kingdom," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3-4), pages 294-313, April.
    15. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    16. David A. Jaeger & Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde & Holger Bonin, 2010. "Direct Evidence on Risk Attitudes and Migration," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(3), pages 684-689, August.
    17. Shilpi Smita Panda & Nihar Ranjan Mishra, 2018. "Factors affecting temporary labour migration for seasonal work: a review," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 41(10), pages 1176-1200, May.
    18. Banerjee, Biswajit & Bucci, Gabriella A, 1995. "On-the-Job Search in a Developing Country: An Analysis Based on Indian Data on Migrants," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 43(3), pages 565-583, April.
    19. Guven, Cahit & Hoxha, Indrit, 2015. "Rain or shine: Happiness and risk-taking," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1-10.
    20. Ravi Srivastava, 2020. "Growing Precarity, Circular Migration, and the Lockdown in India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 63(1), pages 79-86, October.
    21. Sabatini, Fabio, 2009. "Social capital as social networks: A new framework for measurement and an empirical analysis of its determinants and consequences," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 429-442, June.
    22. Mishra, Swasti Vardhan & Gayen, Amiya & Haque, Sk. Mafizul, 2020. "COVID-19 and urban vulnerability in India," SocArXiv 523r8, Center for Open Science.
    23. Elisa M. Maffioli, 2020. "Collecting Data During an Epidemic: A Novel Mobile Phone Research Method," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(8), pages 1231-1255, November.
    24. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
    25. repec:fth:prinin:455 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Joshy Jesline & John Romate & Eslavath Rajkumar & Allen Joshua George, 2021. "The plight of migrants during COVID-19 and the impact of circular migration in India: a systematic review," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
    27. Shilpi Smita Panda & Nihar Ranjan Mishra, 2018. "Factors affecting temporary labour migration for seasonal work: a review," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 41(10), pages 1176-1200, May.
    28. Li, Chuhui & Poskitt, D.S. & Zhao, Xueyan, 2019. "The bivariate probit model, maximum likelihood estimation, pseudo true parameters and partial identification," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 209(1), pages 94-113.
    29. Diane Coffey & John Papp & Dean Spears, 2015. "Short-Term Labor Migration from Rural North India: Evidence from New Survey Data," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 34(3), pages 361-380, June.
    30. Isaiah Andrews & James H. Stock & Liyang Sun, 2019. "Weak Instruments in Instrumental Variables Regression: Theory and Practice," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 727-753, August.
    31. Grootaert Grootaert & Deepa Narayan & Veronica Nyhan Jones & Michael Woolcock, 2004. "Measuring Social Capital : An Integrated Questionnaire," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15033, December.
    32. Chatterji, Pinka & Dave, Daval & Kaestner, Robert & Markowitz, Sara, 2004. "Alcohol abuse and suicide attempts among youth," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 159-180, June.
    33. Joshua Angrist & Alan Krueger, 2001. "Instrumental Variables and the Search for Identification: From Supply and Demand to Natural Experiments," Working Papers 834, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    34. Han, Sukjin & Vytlacil, Edward J., 2017. "Identification in a generalization of bivariate probit models with dummy endogenous regressors," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 199(1), pages 63-73.
    35. Freedman, David A. & Sekhon, Jasjeet S., 2010. "Endogeneity in Probit Response Models," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(2), pages 138-150, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Asadul Islam & Dietrich K. Fausten, 2008. "Skilled Immigration and Wages in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 84(s1), pages 66-82, September.
    2. Guilhem Bascle, 2008. "Controlling for endogeneity with instrumental variables in strategic management research," Post-Print hal-00576795, HAL.
    3. Michael P. Murray, 2006. "Avoiding Invalid Instruments and Coping with Weak Instruments," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(4), pages 111-132, Fall.
    4. Sisira Sarma & Rose Anne Devlin & Jason Gilliland & M. Karen Campbell & Gregory S. Zaric, 2015. "The Effect of Leisure‐Time Physical Activity on Obesity, Diabetes, High BP and Heart Disease Among Canadians: Evidence from 2000/2001 to 2005/2006," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(12), pages 1531-1547, December.
    5. Shin-Yi Chou & Jin-Tan Liu & James Hammitt, 2006. "Households’ precautionary behaviors—the effects of the introduction of National Health Insurance in Taiwan," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 4(4), pages 395-421, December.
    6. Mont, Daniel & Nguyen, Cuong, 2013. "Does Parental Disability Matter to Child Education? Evidence from Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 88-107.
    7. Alexis H. Villacis & Jeffrey R. Alwang & Victor Barrera & Juan Dominguez, 2022. "Prices, specialty varieties, and postharvest practices: Insights from cacao value chains in Ecuador," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(2), pages 426-458, April.
    8. Davillas, Apostolos & Burlinson, Andrew & Liu, Hui-Hsuan, 2022. "Getting warmer: Fuel poverty, objective and subjective health and well-being," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    9. Omar Galárraga & David S. Salkever & Judith A. Cook & Stephen J. Gange, 2010. "An instrumental variables evaluation of the effect of antidepressant use on employment among HIV‐infected women using antiretroviral therapy in the United States: 1996–2004," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(2), pages 173-188, February.
    10. Harry Patrinos & Chris Sakellariou, 2005. "Schooling and Labor Market Impacts of a Natural Policy Experiment," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 19(4), pages 705-719, December.
    11. Lina Zhang & David T. Frazier & D. S. Poskitt & Xueyan Zhao, 2020. "Decomposing Identification Gains and Evaluating Instrument Identification Power for Partially Identified Average Treatment Effects," Papers 2009.02642, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2022.
    12. Irene Mosca & Robert E. Wright, 2018. "Effect of Retirement on Cognition: Evidence From the Irish Marriage Bar," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(4), pages 1317-1341, August.
    13. Rieckmann, Johannes, 2015. "Determinants of drinking water treatment and hygiene habits in provincial towns in Yemen," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113183, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    14. Arendt, Jacob Nielsen & Greve, Jane & Bergqvist, Mikkel, 2019. "Is it good to be LATE? The impact of a preparatory program on upper secondary schooling," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 38-52.
    15. Chris Sakellariou, 2006. "Education policy reform, local average treatment effect and returns to schooling from instrumental variables in the Philippines," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 473-481.
    16. Kämpfen, Fabrice & Maurer, Jürgen, 2016. "Time to burn (calories)? The impact of retirement on physical activity among mature Americans," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 91-102.
    17. Jonathan Klick & Thomas Stratmann, 2006. "Subsidizing Addiction: Do State Health Insurance Mandates Increase Alcohol Consumption?," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(1), pages 175-198, January.
    18. Brendan Kline, 2016. "Identification of the Direction of a Causal Effect by Instrumental Variables," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(2), pages 176-184, April.
    19. Mark Carlson & Kris James Mitchener, 2009. "Branch Banking as a Device for Discipline: Competition and Bank Survivorship during the Great Depression," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 117(2), pages 165-210, April.
    20. Ilona Babenko & Benjamin Bennett & John M Bizjak & Jeffrey L Coles & Jason J Sandvik, 2023. "Clawback Provisions and Firm Risk," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 12(2), pages 191-239.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Covid-19; Behavioural economics; Internal migration; Risk perception; Health information;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:209:y:2023:i:c:p:533-546. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jebo .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.