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

Author Info

Listed author(s):
  • Vladimir Otrachshenko

    ()

    (Nova School of Business and Economics, Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Olga Popova

    ()

    (Osteuropa-Institut, Regensburg (Institut for East European Studies))

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 people dissatisfied with life have higher intention to migrate. We have not enough evidence that the macroeconomic conditions affect the intention to migrate directly, but these factors do affect migration decision indirectly through life satisfaction. We also find that at all levels of life satisfaction, the unemployed, middle-age individuals with low or average income from urban areas at all levels of education have higher intentions to migrate from CEE countries than from non-CEE countries.

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Paper provided by Leibniz Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies) in its series Working Papers with number 306.

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Length: 28
Date of creation: Dec 2011
Handle: RePEc:ost:wpaper:306
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Keywords: life satisfaction; migration; decision making;

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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. 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.
  2. Salahodjaev, Raufhon, 2014. "Can religion buy happiness? The case of Singapore," MPRA Paper 56777, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  3. 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.
  4. 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).
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. Nicole B. Simpson, 2013. "Happiness and migration," Chapters,in: International Handbook on the Economics of Migration, chapter 21, pages 393-408 Edward Elgar Publishing.
  9. 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).
  10. 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).
  11. 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.
  12. Artjoms Ivlevs, 2014. "Happiness and the emigration decision," IZA World of Labor, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), pages 1-96, October.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. 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.

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