Potential migration and subjective well-being in Europe

By examining the preferences over migration destinations of those revealing a desire to permanently leave their country, this paper provides new evidence on the relevance of subjective measures for cross country comparisons. While hard statistics such as GDP per capita and unemployment rates are com...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IZA journal of migration 2014-01, Vol.3 (1), p.1-18, Article 24
Main Author: Lovo, Stefania
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Comparative studies
Decision making
Demography
Economics
Economics and Finance
Europe
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
Intention to migrate
Labor Economics
Migration
Migration destinations
Original Article
Population Economics
Subjective well-being
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Summary:By examining the preferences over migration destinations of those revealing a desire to permanently leave their country, this paper provides new evidence on the relevance of subjective measures for cross country comparisons. While hard statistics such as GDP per capita and unemployment rates are commonly used to measure a country's success, this analysis reveals that people's preferences over alternative migration destinations are better explained by average levels of life satisfaction in the destination country. Aggregated measures of subjective well-being are, therefore, useful for international comparisons as they better reflect what makes some countries more attractive than others.
ISSN:2193-9039
2193-9039
DOI:10.1186/s40176-014-0024-5