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The Well-Being of Nations: Estimating Welfare from International Migration

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Abstract

The limitations of GDP as a measure of welfare are well known. We propose a new method of estimating the well-being of nations. Using gross bilateral international migration flows and a discrete choice model in which everyone in the world chooses a country in which to live, we estimate each country?s overall quality of life. Our estimates, by relying on revealed preference, complement previous estimates of economic well-being that consider only income or a small number of factors, or rely on structural assumptions about how these factors contribute to wellbeing.

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  • Sanghoon Lee & Seung Jung Lee & Jeffrey Lin, 2020. "The Well-Being of Nations: Estimating Welfare from International Migration," Working Papers 19-33, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedpwp:19-33
    DOI: 10.21799/frbp.wp.2019.33
    Note: Revised January 2020
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    Cited by:

    1. Seung Hoon Lee & Hyoung Chul Kim & Ji Sub Park, 2023. "The Well-Being of Cities: Estimating Migration Attractiveness from Internal Migration across Korean Cities," Working papers 2023rwp-213, Yonsei University, Yonsei Economics Research Institute.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    International migration; quality of life; GDP;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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