Life (dis)satisfaction and the decision to migrate: evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

Vladimir Otrachshenko and Olga Popova

Nova SBE Working Paper Series from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics

Abstract: This paper provides empirical evidence of the impact of life satisfaction on the individual intention to migrate. The impacts of individual characteristics and of country macroeconomic variables on the intention to migrate are analyzed jointly. Differently from other studies, we allow for life satisfaction to serve as a mediator between macro-economic variables and the intention to migrate. Using the Eurobarometer Survey for 27 Central Eastern European (CEE) and Western European (non-CEE) countries, we find that people have a higher intention to migrate when dissatisfied with life. The socio-economic variables and macroeconomic conditions have an effect on the intention to migrate indirectly through life satisfaction. The impact of life satisfaction on the intention to migrate for middle-aged individuals with past experience of migration, low level of education, and with a low or average income from urban areas is higher in CEE countries than in non-CEE countries.

Keywords: Life satisfaction; migration; decision making (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 42 pages
Date: 2012
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-mig and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://run.unl.pt/bitstream/10362/11164/1/wp570.pdf

Related works:
Journal Article: Life (dis)satisfaction and the intention to migrate: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe (2014)
Working Paper: Life (Dis)satisfaction and the Decision to Migrate: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe (2012)
Working Paper: Life (Dis)satisfaction and the Decision to Migrate: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe (2011)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:unl:unlfep:wp570

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Nova SBE Working Paper Series from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Susana Lopes ().