IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wfo/wpaper/y2018i569.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Risk Aversion and the Willingness to Migrate in 30 Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Huber
  • Klaus Nowotny

Abstract

We use individual level data covering 30 mostly post-communist and developing countries which account for over a fifth of the worldwide immigrant stock to assess the impact of risk aversion on the willingness to migrate. Consistent with theories of individual level migration decisions, risk aversion has a statistically significant negative impact on both the willingness to migrate within countries as well as abroad. This applies to virtually all countries considered and is robust across various specifications, to alternative measures of risk aversion and to different measures of the willingness to migrate. Differences in the impact of risk aversion on the willingness to migrate are also positively correlated to measures of sending country risks and the missing variable bias of omitting risk aversion from migration regressions is substantial.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Huber & Klaus Nowotny, 2018. "Risk Aversion and the Willingness to Migrate in 30 Countries," WIFO Working Papers 569, WIFO.
    • Handle: RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2018:i:569
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wifo.ac.at/wwa/pubid/61283
    File Function: abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Akgüç, Mehtap & Liu, Xingfei & Tani, Massimiliano & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2016. "Risk attitudes and migration," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 166-176.
    3. Chiswick, Barry R, 1978. "The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-born Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 897-921, October.
    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. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 4, pages 69-91, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. 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..
    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. 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).
    2. González Chapela, Jorge, 2020. "Patience goes a long way: Evidence from Spain," MPRA Paper 98711, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Yvonne Giesing & Reem Hassan, 2021. "Between Hope and Despair: Egypt's Revolution and Migration Intentions," CESifo Working Paper Series 9237, CESifo.
    4. Elena Samarsky, 2020. "Who is Thinking of Leaving Germany? The Role of Postmaterialism, Risk Attitudes, and Life-Satisfaction on Emigration Intentions of German Nationals," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1066, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Jorge González Chapela, 2022. "Is there a patience premium on migration?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(4), pages 2025-2055, October.

    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. 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).
    2. 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.
    3. Brunetti, Marianna & Zaiceva, Anzelika, 2023. "Is Self-Employment for Migrants? Evidence from Italy," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1313, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Marianna Brunetti & Anzelika Zaiceva, 2023. "Is Self-Employment for Migrants? Evidence from Italy," CEIS Research Paper 563, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 31 Jul 2023.
    5. 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.
    6. Brunetti, Marianna & Zaiceva, Anzelika, 2023. "Is Self-Employment for Migrants? Evidence from Italy," IZA Discussion Papers 16314, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. 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.
    8. González Chapela, Jorge, 2020. "Patience goes a long way: Evidence from Spain," MPRA Paper 98711, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Akgüç, Mehtap & Liu, Xingfei & Tani, Massimiliano & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2016. "Risk attitudes and migration," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 166-176.
    10. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6mekga2ph18vda5qbuop2ckgkn is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Jules Gazeaud & Eric Mvukiyehe & Olivier Sterck, 2023. "Cash Transfers and Migration: Theory and Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(1), pages 143-157, January.
    12. 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.
    13. Sumit S. Deole & Marc Oliver Rieger, 2023. "The immigrant-native gap in risk and time preferences in Germany: levels, socio-economic determinants, and recent changes," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 743-778, April.
    14. François-Charles Wolff, 2020. "The intergenerational transmission of risk attitudes: Evidence from Burkina Faso," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 181-206, March.
    15. Amelie F. Constant & Annabelle Krause & Ulf Rinne & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2010. "Economic Preferences and Attitudes of the Unemployed: Are Natives and Second Generation Migrants Alike?," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1088, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    16. 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.
    17. Roberto Roca Paz & Silke Uebelmesser, 2021. "Risk attitudes and migration decisions," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 649-684, June.
    18. Bocquého, Géraldine & Deschamps, Marc & Helstroffer, Jenny & Jacob, Julien & Joxhe, Majlinda, 2023. "Modelling refugee migration under cognitive biases: Experimental evidence and policy," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    19. 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.
    20. Esteban J. Quiñones & Sabine Liebenehm & Rasadhika Sharma, "undated". "Left Home High and Dry-Reduced Migration in Response to Repeated Droughts in Thailand and Vietnam," Mathematica Policy Research Reports ac2ba236e1b8428fbeb6d8b43, Mathematica Policy Research.
    21. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Migration intentions; Risk Aversion; Former Communist Countries;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wfo:wpaper:y:2018:i:569. 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: Florian Mayr (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wifooat.html .

    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.