 Risk aversion, time preferences, and out-migration. Experimental evidence from Ghana and IndonesiaCarina Goldbach and Achim Schlüter Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2018, vol. 150, issue C, 132-148 Abstract: It has long been hypothesized that migrants and non-migrants differ in their individual risk and time preferences. Due to a lack of reliable data on migrants’ preferences, empirical evidence, however, is scarce. Therefore, this paper has sought to advance research on preferences and migration decisions by using original household survey data from two developing countries that are both characterized by a longstanding tradition in regional migration. In coastal communities in Ghana and Indonesia, individual risk and time preferences have not only been elicited through survey questions but also through experimental tasks with real and relatively large monetary payoffs. There is evidence that out-migrants from both study regions are significantly less risk averse and have a lower time preference than non-migrants. Overall, the results indicate that the considered individual preferences are as important as employment status, education or networks, which have mainly been the focus of migration theories. Keywords: Risk aversion; Time preference; Migration; Ghana; Indonesia (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:150:y:2018:i:c:p:132-148 DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2018.04.013 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization is currently edited by Houser, D. and Puzzello, D. More articles in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization from Elsevier |
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