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Life (Dis)satisfaction and the Decision to Migrate: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

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Listed author(s):
  • Vladimir Otrachshenko
  • Olga Popova

Abstract

This paper provides the first evidence regarding the impact of life satisfaction on the individual intention to migrate. The impact of individual characteristics and country macroeconomic variables on the decision to migrate is analyzed in one framework.Differently from other studies, we allow for life satisfaction to serve as a mediator between macroeconomic variables and the intention to migrate. Using the Eurobarometer Survey for 27 Central Eastern (CEE) and Western European (non-CEE) countries, we test the predictions of our theoretical model and find that dissatisfied with life, people have a higher intention to migrate. The macroeconomic conditions have an effect on the intention to migrate indirectly through life satisfaction. At all levels of life satisfaction, unemployed, middle-aged individuals with a low or average income from urban areas at all levels of education are found to have higher intentions to migrate from CEE countries than from non-CEE countries.

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Paper provided by The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague in its series CERGE-EI Working Papers with number wp460.

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Date of creation: Apr 2012
Handle: RePEc:cer:papers:wp460
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Keywords: life satisfaction; migration; decision making;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • 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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Cited by:

  1. Artjoms Ivlevs, 2014. "Happiness and the emigration decision," IZA World of Labor, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), pages 1-96, October.
  2. Isilda Mara & Michael Landesmann, 2013. "Do I stay because I am happy or am I happy because I stay? Life satisfaction in migration, and the decision to stay permanently, return and out-migrate," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2013008, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
  3. Salahodjaev, Raufhon, 2014. "Can religion buy happiness? The case of Singapore," MPRA Paper 56777, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  4. Ruohong Cai & Neli Esipova & Michael Oppenheimer & Shuaizhang Feng, 2014. "International migration desires related to subjective well-being," IZA Journal of Migration, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, December.
  5. Artjoms Ivlevs, 2014. "Happy moves? Assessing the impact of subjective well-being on the emigration decision," Working Papers 20141402, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
  6. Falco, Chiara & Rotondi, Valentina, 2016. "The Less Extreme, the More You Leave: Radical Islam and Willingness to Migrate," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 122-133.
  7. Guzi, Martin & de Pedraza, Pablo, 2013. "A Web Survey Analysis of the Subjective Well-being of Spanish Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 7618, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  8. Gábor Hajdu & Tamás Hajdu, 2016. "The Impact of Culture on Well-Being: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 1089-1110, June.
  9. Popova, Olga, 2014. "Can religion insure against aggregate shocks to happiness? The case of transition countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 804-818.
  10. Monica ROMAN & Maria Denisa VASILESCU, 2016. "Explaining the Migration Intentions Of Romanian Youth: Are Teenegers Different?," Romanian Statistical Review, Romanian Statistical Review, vol. 64(4), pages 69-86, December.
  11. Nicole B. Simpson, 2013. "Happiness and migration," Chapters,in: International Handbook on the Economics of Migration, chapter 21, pages 393-408 Edward Elgar Publishing.
  12. Nikolova, Milena & Graham, Carol Lee, 2014. "In Transit: The Well-Being of Migrants from Transition and Post-Transition Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 8520, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  13. Kristyn Frank & Feng Hou & Grant Schellenberg, 2016. "Life Satisfaction Among Recent Immigrants in Canada: Comparisons to Source-Country and Host-Country Populations," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1659-1680, August.
  14. Ivlevs, Artjoms, 2015. "Happy Moves? Assessing the Link Between Life Satisfaction and Emigration Intentions," IZA Discussion Papers 9017, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  15. Nikolova, Milena & Graham, Carol, 2015. "In transit: The well-being of migrants from transition and post-transition countries," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 164-186.

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