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Relative Standing and Temporary Migration: Empirical Evidence from the South Caucasus

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  • Armenak Antinyan
  • Luca Corazzini

Abstract

This paper empirically investigates the relationship between households’ relative deprivation and the intentions of their members to temporarily migrate abroad in three transition economies of the South Caucasus: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Controlling for households’ absolute income and other relevant subjective dimensions, we illustrate that households’ relative position vis-à-vis their reference groups plays an important role in determining the intentions of their members to migrate abroad. Particularly, individuals are more willing to engage in temporary emigration, if they perceive themselves to be poorer than the reference group.

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  • Armenak Antinyan & Luca Corazzini, 2016. "Relative Standing and Temporary Migration: Empirical Evidence from the South Caucasus," LIUC Papers in Economics 293, Cattaneo University (LIUC).
    • Handle: RePEc:liu:liucec:293
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    Cited by:

    1. Armenak Antinyan & Vardan Baghdasaryan & Aleksandr Grigoryan, 2018. "Social Preferences, Public Good Provision, Social Capital and Positional Concerns: Empirical Evidence from the South Caucasus," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp625, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    2. Antinyan, Armenak & Baghdasaryan, Vardan & Grigoryan, Aleksandr, 2022. "Charitable giving, social capital, and positional concerns," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    3. Lucio Esposito & Shatakshee Dhongde & Christopher Millett, 2021. "Smoking habits in Mexico: Upward and downward comparisons of economic status," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 1558-1575, August.
    4. Liu, Ziming & Yu, Lu, 2020. "Stay or Leave? The Role of Air Pollution in Urban Migration Choices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    5. Armenak Antinyan & Luca Corazzini, 2018. "Relative standing and temporary migration: Empirical evidence from the South Caucasus," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 361-383, February.

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