IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jopoec/v33y2020i4d10.1007_s00148-020-00777-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Risk aversion and the willingness to migrate in 30 transition countries

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Huber

    (Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO)
    Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University)

  • Klaus Nowotny

    (Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO)
    University of Salzburg)

Abstract

This paper uses individual-level data covering 30 transition countries that account for over one-quarter of the worldwide immigrant stock to assess the impact of risk aversion on willingness to migrate. It extends the previous literature by allowing the effect of risk aversion to depend on the level of risk in the sending country. Consistent with theories of individual-level migration decisions, we find that risk aversion has a robust and statistically significant negative impact on willingness to migrate within countries as well as abroad. As predicted by theory, this impact is robustly less negative in riskier sending countries. Furthermore, this negative impact is significantly larger for willingness to migrate abroad than willingness to migrate internally. We also find that, even after controlling for an extensive set of control variables, willingness to migrate internally and abroad are highly correlated. This suggests that internal and international mobility decisions are closely linked.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Huber & Klaus Nowotny, 2020. "Risk aversion and the willingness to migrate in 30 transition countries," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1463-1498, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:33:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s00148-020-00777-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-020-00777-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00148-020-00777-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00148-020-00777-3?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. David, Quentin & Janiak, Alexandre & Wasmer, Etienne, 2010. "Local social capital and geographical mobility," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 191-204, September.
    2. Alessandra Faggian & Philip McCann & Stephen Sheppard, 2007. "Some Evidence That Women Are More Mobile Than Men: Gender Differences In U.K. Graduate Migration Behavior," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 517-539, August.
    3. Akgüç, Mehtap & Liu, Xingfei & Tani, Massimiliano & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2016. "Risk attitudes and migration," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 166-176.
    4. Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde & Jürgen Schupp & Gert G. Wagner, 2011. "Individual Risk Attitudes: Measurement, Determinants, And Behavioral Consequences," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 522-550, June.
    5. Fidrmuc, Jan, 2004. "Migration and regional adjustment to asymmetric shocks in transition economies," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 230-247, June.
    6. Giuseppe De Luca, 2008. "SNP and SML estimation of univariate and bivariate binary-choice models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 8(2), pages 190-220, June.
    7. Dohmen, Thomas & Lehmann, Hartmut & Pignatti, Norberto, 2016. "Time-varying individual risk attitudes over the Great Recession: A comparison of Germany and Ukraine," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 182-200.
    8. Peter Huber & Klaus Nowotny, 2013. "Moving across Borders: Who is Willing to Migrate or to Commute?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(9), pages 1462-1481, October.
    9. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/5l6uh8ogmqildh09h482kc28p is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Caglar Ozden & Christopher R. Parsons & Maurice Schiff & Terrie L. Walmsley, 2011. "Where on Earth is Everybody? The Evolution of Global Bilateral Migration 1960-2000," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 25(1), pages 12-56, May.
    11. Yuri Andrienko & Sergei Guriev, 2004. "Determinants of interregional mobility in Russia," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 12(1), pages 1-27, March.
    12. Fidrmuc, Jan & Gërxhani, Klarita, 2008. "Mind the gap! Social capital, East and West," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 264-286, June.
    13. Frédéric Docquier & Giovanni Peri & Ilse Ruyssen, 2016. "The Cross-country Determinants of Potential and Actual Migration," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: The Economics of International Migration, chapter 12, pages 361-423, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    14. Gibson, John & McKenzie, David, 2011. "The microeconomic determinants of emigration and return migration of the best and brightest: Evidence from the Pacific," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 18-29, May.
    15. Christian Dustmann & Francesco Fasani & Xin Meng & Luigi Minale, 2023. "Risk Attitudes and Household Migration Decisions," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(1), pages 112-145.
    16. Floro Ernesto Caroleo & Francesco Pastore (ed.), 2010. "The Labour Market Impact of the EU Enlargement," AIEL Series in Labour Economics, Springer, number 978-3-7908-2164-2, June.
    17. Kan, Kamhon, 1999. "Expected and Unexpected Residential Mobility," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 72-96, January.
    18. Cojocaru, Alexandru, 2014. "Fairness and inequality tolerance: Evidence from the Life in Transition Survey," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 590-608.
    19. 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.
    20. Klaus Nowotny, 2014. "Cross-border commuting and migration intentions: the roles of risk aversion and time preference," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 8(2), June.
    21. Holger Bonin & Amelie Constant & Konstantinos Tatsiramos & Klaus Zimmermann, 2009. "Native-migrant differences in risk attitudes," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(15), pages 1581-1586.
    22. George J. Borjas, 1991. "Immigration and Self-Selection," NBER Chapters, in: Immigration, Trade, and the Labor Market, pages 29-76, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Harris, John R & Todaro, Michael P, 1970. "Migration, Unemployment & Development: A Two-Sector Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 126-142, March.
    24. Pierella Paci & Erwin R. Tiongson & Mateusz Walewski & Jacek Liwiński, 2010. "Internal Labour Mobility in Central Europe and the Baltic Region: Evidence from Labour Force Surveys," AIEL Series in Labour Economics, in: Floro Ernesto Caroleo & Francesco Pastore (ed.), The Labour Market Impact of the EU Enlargement, pages 197-225, Springer.
    25. Larry A. Sjaastad, 1970. "The Costs and Returns of Human Migration," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Harry W. Richardson (ed.), Regional Economics, chapter 9, pages 115-133, Palgrave Macmillan.
    26. Abowd, John M. & Freeman, Richard B. (ed.), 1991. "Immigration, Trade, and the Labor Market," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226000954, December.
    27. Coulson, N. Edward & Fisher, Lynn M., 2009. "Housing tenure and labor market impacts: The search goes on," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 252-264, May.
    28. Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), 2005. "Handbook of Economic Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    29. Hendrik P. van Dalen & Kène Henkens, 2013. "Explaining emigration intentions and behaviour in the Netherlands, 2005-10," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 67(2), pages 225-241, July.
    30. Huber, Peter, 2006. "Regional labor market developments in transition," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3896, The World Bank.
    31. Peter Ester & Ruud Muffels & Joop Schippers & Ton Wilthagen (ed.), 2008. "Innovating European Labour Markets," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13212.
    32. Nikolova, Elena & Sanfey, Peter, 2016. "How much should we trust life satisfaction data? Evidence from the Life in Transition Survey," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 720-731.
    33. Floro Ernesto Caroleo & Francesco Pastore (ed.), 2010. "The Labour Market Impact of the EU Enlargement. A New Regional Geography of Europe?," AIEL Series in Labour Economics, AIEL - Associazione Italiana Economisti del Lavoro, number 04, November.
    34. Pierella Paci & Erwin R. Tiongson & Mateusz Walewski & Jacek Liwinski, 2010. "Internal Labour Mobility in Central Europe and the Baltic Region: Evidence from Labour Force Surveys," AIEL Series in Labour Economics, in: Floro Ernesto Caroleo & Francesco Pastore (ed.), The Labour Market Impact of the EU Enlargement. A New Regional Geography of Europe?, edition 1, chapter 8, pages 197-225, AIEL - Associazione Italiana Economisti del Lavoro.
    35. Peter Huber & Stepan Mikula, 2018. "Social Capital and Migration Intentions in Post-Communist Countries," WIFO Working Papers 550, WIFO.
    36. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/5l6uh8ogmqildh09h482kc28p is not listed on IDEAS
    37. John M. Abowd & Richard B. Freeman, 1991. "Immigration, Trade, and the Labor Market," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number abow91-1, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jen-Chieh Lee & Tyrone T. Lin, 2020. "Decision Analysis on Sustainable Value: Comparison of the London and Taiwan Markets for Product Integration of Family Security Services and Residential Fire Insurance," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-15, October.
    2. Mckenzie,David J., 2022. "Fears and Tears : Should More People Be Moving within and from Developing Countries, andWhat Stops This Movement ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10128, The World Bank.
    3. Frank Bickenbach & Wan-Hsin Liu, 2022. "Goodbye China: What Do Fewer Foreigners Mean for Multinationals and the Chinese Economy?," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 57(5), pages 306-312, September.
    4. Martin Guzi & Štěpán Mikula, 2022. "Reforms that keep you at home: The effects of economic transition on migration," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 289-310, April.
    5. Gabriele Restelli, 2023. "Development and International Migration: The Effect of Income on Regular and Irregular Migration Intentions to Europe," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 49(1), pages 135-174, March.

    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. Peter Huber & Stepan Mikula, 2019. "Social capital and willingness to migrate in post-communist countries," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 46(1), pages 31-59, February.
    2. Klöble, Katrin, 2021. "A behavioural perspective on the drivers of migration: Studying economic and social preferences using the Gallup World Poll," IDOS Discussion Papers 4/2021, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    3. Akgüç, Mehtap & Liu, Xingfei & Tani, Massimiliano & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2016. "Risk attitudes and migration," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 166-176.
    4. Hao, Li & Houser, Daniel & Mao, Lei & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2016. "Migrations, risks, and uncertainty: A field experiment in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 131(PA), pages 126-140.
    5. González Chapela, Jorge, 2020. "Patience goes a long way: Evidence from Spain," MPRA Paper 98711, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. 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.
    7. Peter Huber & Klaus Nowotny, 2018. "Risk Aversion and the Willingness to Migrate in 30 Countries," WIFO Working Papers 569, WIFO.
    8. Géraldine Bocqueho & Marc Deschamps & Jenny Helstroffer & Julien Jacob & Majlinda Joxhe & Ofce Observatoire Français Des Conjonctures Économiques, 2018. "The risk and refugee migration," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03607866, HAL.
    9. Gröger, André, 2021. "Easy come, easy go? Economic shocks, labor migration and the family left behind," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    10. Boenisch, Peter & Schneider, Lutz, 2013. "The social capital legacy of communism-results from the Berlin Wall experiment," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 391-411.
    11. Didier Fouarge & Merve Nezihe Özer & Philipp Seegers, 2019. "Personality traits, migration intentions, and cultural distance," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 98(6), pages 2425-2454, December.
    12. Peter Huber & Stepan Mikula, 2018. "Social Capital and Migration Intentions in Post-Communist Countries," WIFO Working Papers 550, WIFO.
    13. Jorge González Chapela, 2022. "Is there a patience premium on migration?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(4), pages 2025-2055, October.
    14. Anna Katharina Raggl, 2019. "Migration intentions in CESEE: sociodemographic profiles of prospective emigrants and their motives for moving," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q1/19, pages 49-67.
    15. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6mekga2ph18vda5qbuop2ckgkn is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Caliendo, Marco & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Hennecke, Juliane & Uhlendorff, Arne, 2019. "Locus of control and internal migration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Shamsuddin, Mrittika & Katsaiti, Marina Selini & El Anshasy, Amany A., 2022. "Income rank and income concerns: What correlates with international migration intentions?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 490-505.
    18. Caliendo, Marco & Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Hennecke, Juliane & Uhlendorff, Arne, 2019. "Locus of control and internal migration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    19. Shi, Xiaojun & Yan, Zhu, 2018. "Urbanization and risk preference in China: A decomposition of self-selection and assimilation effects," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 210-228.
    20. Roberto Roca Paz & Silke Uebelmesser, 2021. "Risk attitudes and migration decisions," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 649-684, June.
    21. Hao, Li & Houser, Daniel & Mao, Lei & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2014. "A Field Study of Chinese Migrant Workers' Attitudes toward Risks, Strategic Uncertainty, and Competitiveness," IZA Discussion Papers 8227, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    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:spr:jopoec:v:33:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s00148-020-00777-3. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.