Moving to despair? Migration and well-being in Pakistan
Internal migration has the potential to substantially increase income, especially for the poor in developing countries, and yet migration rates remain low. We explore the role of psychic costs by evaluating the impacts of internal migration on a suite of well-being indicators using a unique, 22-year...
| Autores principales: | , , |
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| Formato: | Artículo preliminar |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
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Institute for the Study of Labor
2017
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148034 |
| _version_ | 1855534662555795456 |
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| author | Chen, Joyce Kosec, Katrina Mueller, Valerie |
| author_browse | Chen, Joyce Kosec, Katrina Mueller, Valerie |
| author_facet | Chen, Joyce Kosec, Katrina Mueller, Valerie |
| author_sort | Chen, Joyce |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Internal migration has the potential to substantially increase income, especially for the poor in developing countries, and yet migration rates remain low. We explore the role of psychic costs by evaluating the impacts of internal migration on a suite of well-being indicators using a unique, 22-year longitudinal study in rural Pakistan. We account for selection into migration using covariate matching. Migrants have roughly 35 to 40 percent higher consumption per adult equivalent, yet are 12 to 14 percentage points less likely to report feeling either happy or calm. Our results suggest that deteriorating physical health coupled with feelings of relative deprivation underlie the disparity between economic and mental well-being. Thus, despite substantial monetary gains from migration, people may be happier and less mentally distressed remaining at home. If traditional market mechanisms cannot reduce psychic costs, it may be more constructive to address regional inequality by shifting production – rather than workers – across space. |
| format | Artículo preliminar |
| id | CGSpace148034 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateRange | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | Institute for the Study of Labor |
| publisherStr | Institute for the Study of Labor |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1480342025-03-03T19:56:19Z Moving to despair? Migration and well-being in Pakistan Chen, Joyce Kosec, Katrina Mueller, Valerie economic development welfare migration Internal migration has the potential to substantially increase income, especially for the poor in developing countries, and yet migration rates remain low. We explore the role of psychic costs by evaluating the impacts of internal migration on a suite of well-being indicators using a unique, 22-year longitudinal study in rural Pakistan. We account for selection into migration using covariate matching. Migrants have roughly 35 to 40 percent higher consumption per adult equivalent, yet are 12 to 14 percentage points less likely to report feeling either happy or calm. Our results suggest that deteriorating physical health coupled with feelings of relative deprivation underlie the disparity between economic and mental well-being. Thus, despite substantial monetary gains from migration, people may be happier and less mentally distressed remaining at home. If traditional market mechanisms cannot reduce psychic costs, it may be more constructive to address regional inequality by shifting production – rather than workers – across space. 2017 2024-06-21T09:23:42Z 2024-06-21T09:23:42Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148034 en https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.09.007 Institute for the Study of Labor Chen, Joyce; Kosec, Katrina; and Mueller, Valerie. 2017. Moving to despair? Migration and well-being in Pakistan. IZA Discussion Paper 10853. Bonn, Germany: Institute for the Study of Labor. https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/10853/moving-to-despair-migration-and-well-being-in-pakistan |
| spellingShingle | economic development welfare migration Chen, Joyce Kosec, Katrina Mueller, Valerie Moving to despair? Migration and well-being in Pakistan |
| title | Moving to despair? Migration and well-being in Pakistan |
| title_full | Moving to despair? Migration and well-being in Pakistan |
| title_fullStr | Moving to despair? Migration and well-being in Pakistan |
| title_full_unstemmed | Moving to despair? Migration and well-being in Pakistan |
| title_short | Moving to despair? Migration and well-being in Pakistan |
| title_sort | moving to despair migration and well being in pakistan |
| topic | economic development welfare migration |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148034 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT chenjoyce movingtodespairmigrationandwellbeinginpakistan AT koseckatrina movingtodespairmigrationandwellbeinginpakistan AT muellervalerie movingtodespairmigrationandwellbeinginpakistan |