Miserable Migrants? Natural Experiment Evidence on International Migration and Objective and Subjective Well-Being

B-Tier
Journal: World Development
Year: 2015
Volume: 65
Issue: C
Pages: 79-93

Score contribution per author:

0.503 = (α=2.01 / 4 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We compare successful and unsuccessful applicants to a migration lottery in order to examine the impact of migration on objective and subjective well-being. The results show that international migration brings large improvements in objective well-being. Impacts on subjective well-being are complex, with mental health improving but happiness declining, self-rated welfare rising if viewed retrospectively but static if viewed experimentally, self-rated social respect rising retrospectively but falling experimentally and subjective income adequacy rising. We further show that these changes would not be predicted from cross-sectional regressions on the correlates of subjective well-being in either Tonga or New Zealand.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:wdevel:v:65:y:2015:i:c:p:79-93
Journal Field
Development
Author Count
4
Added to Database
2026-01-25