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Happiness and the emigration decision

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  • Artjoms Ivlevs

    (University of the West of England, UK, and IZA, Germany)

Abstract

Happy people are healthier and more creative, productive, and sociable. Because of these positive effects of happiness, it is in the interest of countries to attract and retain happy people. With respect to the decision to migrate, the central question becomes whether people who are happier and more satisfied with their lives are more or less likely to migrate. The evidence so far is mixed. Correlational studies find that prospective migrants are less happy than people who are not intending to migrate, while one study controlling for reverse causality suggests that the desire to migrate increases with life satisfaction.

Suggested Citation

  • Artjoms Ivlevs, 2014. "Happiness and the emigration decision," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-96, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izawol:journl:y:2014:n:96
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stillman, Steven & Gibson, John & McKenzie, David & Rohorua, Halahingano, 2015. "Miserable Migrants? Natural Experiment Evidence on International Migration and Objective and Subjective Well-Being," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 79-93.
    2. Otrachshenko, Vladimir & Popova, Olga, 2014. "Life (dis)satisfaction and the intention to migrate: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 40-49.
    3. Ruohong Cai & Neli Esipova & Michael Oppenheimer & Shuaizhang Feng, 2014. "International migration desires related to subjective well-being," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, December.
    4. Linnea Polgreen & Nicole Simpson, 2011. "Happiness and International Migration," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 12(5), pages 819-840, October.
    5. Beata Nowok & Maarten van Ham & Allan M Findlay & Vernon Gayle, 2013. "Does Migration Make You Happy? A Longitudinal Study of Internal Migration and Subjective Well-Being," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(4), pages 986-1002, April.
    6. Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), 2013. "International Handbook on the Economics of Migration," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 4026.
    7. Namrata Chindarkar, 2014. "Is Subjective Well-Being of Concern to Potential Migrants from Latin America?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 115(1), pages 159-182, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mediran,Marc Gabriel S. & Revilla, Josefa Angelie D. & Caroche, Maria Liezel P. & Mercado, Alan Marco S. & Villanueva, Marc Joseph S., 2021. "Investigating the Intention to Work Overseas Among Filipino Engineering Students by Testing a Structural Equation Model Based on an Extended Theory of Planned Behavior," Journal of Economics, Management & Agricultural Development, Journal of Economics, Management & Agricultural Development (JEMAD), vol. 7(2), December.
    2. Artjoms Ivlevs, 2015. "Happy Moves? Assessing the Link between Life Satisfaction and Emigration Intentions," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(3), pages 335-356, August.
    3. Arusha Cooray & Friedrich Schneider, 2016. "Does corruption promote emigration? An empirical examination," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(1), pages 293-310, January.
    4. Amr Abdelwahed & Anne Goujon & Leiwen Jiang, 2020. "The Migration Intentions of Young Egyptians," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-38, November.
    5. Luciana Méndez, 2020. "So Dissatisfied to Leave? The Role of Perceptions, Expectations and Beliefs on Youths’ Intention to Migrate: Evidence from a Developing Country," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(8), pages 2981-3006, December.
    6. Luciana Méndez, 2017. "So dissatisfied to leave? The role of perceptions, expectations and beliefs on youths' intention to migrate," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 17-12, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    7. Carol Graham, 2005. "The Economics of Happiness," World Economics, World Economics, 1 Ivory Square, Plantation Wharf, London, United Kingdom, SW11 3UE, vol. 6(3), pages 41-55, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    emigration decision; happiness; life satisfaction; happiness drain;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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