The Effects of International Migration on the Well-Being of Native Populations in Europe

William Betz () and Nicole Simpson
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William Betz: Colgate University

No 7368, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: With worldwide migration becoming increasingly prevalent in policy agendas over the past several decades, understanding the effects that migrants have on a host country's population continues to be an important research agenda. There is a large literature documenting the effects that migrants have on native wages, tax burden, unemployment, etc. However, very little is understood about how migrants affect the happiness, or subjective well-being, of natives. This paper uses the European Social Survey to analyze the effects of aggregate immigration inflows on the subjective well-being of native-born populations in a panel of 26 countries between 2002 and 2010. We find that recent immigrant flows have a nonlinear, yet overall positive impact on the well-being of natives. Specifically, we find that immigrant flows from two years prior have larger positive effects on natives' well-being than immigrant inflows from one year prior. Our findings are very small in magnitude and in practical application; only large immigrant flows would affect native well-being significantly.

Keywords: life satisfaction; international migration; happiness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 I31 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2013-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-ltv and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (30)

Published - published in: IZA Journal of Migration, 2013, 2:12.

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Journal Article: The effects of international migration on the well-being of native populations in Europe (2013)
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