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What are Migrants Willing to Pay for Better Home Country Institutions?: The Case of Viet Nam

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Listed:
  • Ngoc Thi Minh Tran

    (University of Waikato)

  • Michael P. Cameron

    (University of Waikato)

  • Jacques Poot

    (University of Waikato)

Abstract

We conduct the first contingent valuation investigation of the preference of international migrants for better home country institutional quality. Our study uses contingent valuation questions in a survey of Vietnamese migrants living in New Zealand (NZ) in 2016 to establish the compensating differentials that make those migrants indifferent between residing in New Zealand and returning to Viet Nam (VN) in hypothetical scenarios. We find that the estimated willingness to pay for an incremental unit improvement in institutional quality in Viet Nam is, on average, NZD 79.80 per week (approximately 33 percent of the average weekly wage in Viet Nam for the same period), and positively associated with the respondents’ age and the perceived importance of institutional quality in Viet Nam to their repatriation intentions. This study underscores the importance of institutional quality to migration decisions by showing that migrants are willing to trade-off part of their regular income for better home country institutional quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Ngoc Thi Minh Tran & Michael P. Cameron & Jacques Poot, 2018. "What are Migrants Willing to Pay for Better Home Country Institutions?: The Case of Viet Nam," Working Papers in Economics 18/10, University of Waikato.
    • Handle: RePEc:wai:econwp:18/10
    as

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    File URL: https://repec.its.waikato.ac.nz/wai/econwp/1810.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thierry Baudassé & Rémi Bazillier & Ismaël Issifou, 2018. "Migration And Institutions: Exit And Voice (From Abroad)?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 727-766, July.
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    3. Ngoc Thi Minh Tran & Michael P. Cameron & Jacques Poot, 2017. "Local Institutional Quality and Return Migration: Evidence from Vietnam," Working Papers in Economics 17/10, University of Waikato.
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    6. Grogger, Jeffrey & Hanson, Gordon H., 2011. "Income maximization and the selection and sorting of international migrants," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 42-57, May.
    7. Ngoc Thi Minh Tran & Michael P. Cameron & Jacques Poot, 2018. "Return or Not Return? The Role of Home-Country Institutional Quality in Vietnamese Migrants’ Return Intentions," Working Papers in Economics 18/04, University of Waikato.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    return migration; institutional quality; contingent valuation method; willingness to pay; Viet Nam;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General

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