Longing for Which Home: Evidence from Global Aspirations to Stay, Return or Migrate Onwards

Els Bekaert, Amelie Constant, Killian Foubert () and Ilse Ruyssen

Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium from Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

Abstract: Aspirations provide the underlying dynamics of the behavior of individuals whether they are realized or not. Knowledge about the characteristics and motives of those who aspire to leave the host country is key for both host and home countries to formulate appropriate and effective policies in order to keep their valued immigrants or citizens and foster their (re-)integration. Based on unique individual-level Gallup World Polls data, we model the aspirations or stated preferences to return or migrate onwards of immigrants across 138 countries worldwide. Our analysis reveals selection in characteristics, a strong role for soft factors like social ties and sociocultural integration, and a faint role for economic factors. Changes in circumstances in the home and host countries are also important determinants of aspirations. Results differ by the host countries’ level of economic development.

Keywords: Return migration; Onwards migration; Migration aspirations; International migration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C55 D01 F22 J15 J61 J68 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46 pages
Date: 2021-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int, nep-lab and nep-ure
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http://wps-feb.ugent.be/Papers/wp_21_1028.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Longing for Which Home: Evidence from Global Aspirations to Stay, Return or Migrate Onwards (2021)
Working Paper: Longing for which home: Evidence from global aspirations to stay, return or migrate onwards (2021)
Working Paper: Longing for Which Home: Evidence from Global Aspirations to Stay, Return or Migrate Onwards (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rug:rugwps:21/1028

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