Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Economic Migration and Happiness: Comparing Immigrants’ and Natives’ Happiness Gains From Income

  • Published:
Social Indicators Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Research on happiness casts doubt on the notion that increases in income generally bring greater happiness. This finding can be taken to imply that economic migration might fail to result in increased happiness for the migrants: migration as a means of increasing one’s income might be no more effective in raising happiness than other means of increasing one’s income. This implication is counterintuitive: it suggests that migrants are mistaken in believing that economic migration is a path to improving one’s well-being, at least to the extent that well-being means (or includes) happiness. This paper considers a scenario in which it is less likely that migrants are simply mistaken in this regard. The finding that increased incomes do not lead to greater happiness is an average (non)effect—and migrants might be exceptional in this regard, gaining happiness from increased incomes to a greater extent than most people. The analysis here, using data from the World Values Survey, finds that the association between income and happiness is indeed stronger for immigrants in the USA than for natives—but even for immigrants that association is still relatively weak. The discussion then considers this finding in light of the fact that immigrants also report lower levels of happiness than natives after controlling for other variables.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The Mexican Migration Project overcomes this type of limitation to a degree, though it does not contain questions/variables related to happiness.

  2. As with many studies of this type, Ball and Chernova’s analysis is based on cross-sectional data. Clark and Oswald (2002) assert that the structure of equations based on panel data is similar to those derived using cross-sectional data, suggesting that “omitted dispositions” is not a problem for the latter.

  3. Migrants might well believe that migration is a sacrifice worth making for the sake of their children—but that belief might be inaccurate in relation to actual consequences for the second generation, particularly if the children themselves show evidence of downward mobility as per the segmented assimilation thesis (Portes and Zhou 1993). Beliefs about remittances might be similar in this respect: Borraz et al. (2007) found that emigrants’ families back home were less happy than non-migrant families despite the greater income brought by remittances.

  4. When one considers that particularly unhappy migrants might be more inclined to return to their country of origin (or to move onto another destination), the size of this negative coefficient might be even larger if migrants who had already left were included in the sample. As noted above, national constraints on data collection inhibit measurement of immigration-related processes like this.

  5. The age variable was statistically significant in Ball and Chernova’s models—presumably because their sample was much larger (>20,000). Even with the larger sample, sex was not significant in their models.

  6. This statement assumes that the direction of causality, if any, runs from income to life satisfaction. The reverse is plausible, as often noted: more satisfied people might be able to earn higher incomes.

  7. There is, unavoidably, a degree of imprecision in designating (all) countries in Asia as poorer than the US: that designation would not be correct for Japan, in particular. In addition, “other” would likely include Australia and New Zealand—though it would also include immigrants from the Caribbean.

  8. One might wonder whether immigrants and natives would tend to answer the life satisfaction question differently perhaps for cultural reasons. But data from this type of question are regularly used for international comparisons of happiness, and while there are indeed cultural differences (on which see Suh et al. 1998) there is no apparent reason to believe that any “bias” arising from cultural factors would work solely in one direction, given that immigrants to the US come from a very wide range of countries.

References

  • Amit, K. (2010). Determinants of life satisfaction among immigrants from western countries and from the FSU in Israel. Social Indicators Research, 96(3), 515–534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ball, R., & Chernova, K. (2008). Absolute income, relative income, and happiness. Social Indicators Research, 88(3), 497–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bălţătescu, S. (2007). Central and eastern Europeans migrants’ subjective quality of life: A comparative study. Journal of Identity and Migration Studies, 1(2), 67–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartram, D. (2010). International migration, open borders debates, and happiness. International Studies Review, 12(3), 339–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanchflower, D. G., & Oswald, A. J. (2004). Well-being over time in Britain and the USA. Journal of Public Economics, 88(7–8), 1359–1386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borraz, F., Rossi, M., & Pozo, S. (2007). And what about the family back home? International migration and happiness. Public Policy Development Office Conference, Bangkok.

  • Boyce, C. J., Brown, G. D. A., & Moore, S. C. (2010). Money and happiness: Rank of income, not income, affects life satisfaction. Psychological Science (forthcoming). doi:10.1177/0956797610362671.

  • Castles, S., & Miller, M. J. (2009). The age of migration: International population movements in the modern world. London: Macmillan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, A. E., Diener, E., Georgellis, Y., & Lucas, R. E. (2008). Lags and leads in life satisfaction: A test of the baseline hypothesis. The Economic Journal, 118(529), F222–F243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, A., & Oswald, A. J. (2002). Well-being in panels. Working paper, University of Warwick.

  • De Jong, G. F., Chamratrithirong, A., & Tran, Q.-G. (2002). For better, for worse: Life satisfaction consequences of migration. International Migration Review, 36(3), 838–863.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deaton, A. (2008). Income, health, and well-being around the world: Evidence from the gallup world poll. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 22(2), 53–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E. (2008). Myths in the science of happiness and directions for future research. In M. Eid & R. Larsen (Eds.), The science of subjective well-being (pp. 493–513). New York: Guilford Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2002). Will money increase subjective well-being? Social Indicators Research, 57(2), 119–169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Eunkook, M. S., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125(2), 276–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Lucas, R., Schimmack, U., & Helliwell, J. (2009). Well-being for public policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Sandvik, E., Seidlitz, L., & Diener, M. (1993). The relationship between income and subjective well-being: Relative or absolute? Social Indicators Research, 28(3), 195–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dreby, J. (2010). Divided by borders: Mexican migrants and their children. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R. A. (1974). Does economic growth improve the human lot? In P. A. David & M. W. Reder (Eds.), Nations and households in economic growth: Essays in honor of Moses Abramowitz (pp. 89–125). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R. A. (2001). Income and happiness: Towards a unified theory. The Economic Journal, 111(473), 465–484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R. A. (2005). Diminishing marginal utility of income? Caveat emptor. Social Indicators Research, 70(3), 243–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R. A., & Angelescu, L. (2009). Happiness and growth the world over: Time series evidence on the happiness-income paradox. IZA Discussion Paper No. 4060.

  • Frank, R. H. (1999). Luxury fever: Money and happiness in an era of excess. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frederick, S., & Loewenstein, G. F. (1999). Hedonic adaptation. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 302–329). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey, B. S., & Stutzer, A. (2002). Happiness and economics: How the economy and institutions affect human well-being. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, D. (2006). Stumbling on happiness. New York: HarperCollins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, C. (2009). Happiness around the world: The paradox of happy peasants and miserable millionaires. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagerty, M. R. (2003). Was life better in the “Good Old Days”? Intertemporal judgments of life satisfaction. Journal of Happiness Studies, 4(2), 115–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D., Krueger, A. B., Schkade, D., Schwarz, N., & Stone, A. A. (2006). Would you be happier if you were richer? A focusing illusion. Science, 312, 1908–1910.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kasser, T. (2003). The high price of materialism. Boston: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, D. R. (2006). Who says money cannot buy happiness? Independent Review, X(3), 385–400.

    Google Scholar 

  • Light, I., & Bonacich, E. (1991). Immigrant entrepreneurs: Koreans in Los Angeles, 1965–1982. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lykken, D., & Tellegen, A. (1996). Happiness is a stochastic phenomenon. Psychological Science, 7(3), 186–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michalos, A. C. (1985). Multiple discrepancy theory (MDT). Social Indicators Research, 16(4), 347–417.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michalos, A. C. (1996). Migration and the quality of life: A review essay. Social Indicators Research, 39(2), 121–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neto, F. (1995). Predictors of satisfaction with life among second generation migrants. Social Indicators Research, 35(1), 93–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Connell, A. A. (2006). Logistic regression models for ordinal response variables. London: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parreñas, R. S. (2001). Servants of globalization: Women, migration, and domestic work. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piore, M. J. (1979). Birds of passage: Migrant labor and industrial societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Portes, A., & Bach, R. L. (1985). Latin journey: Cuban and Mexican immigrants in the United States. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Portes, A., & Zhou, M. (1993). The new second generation: Segmented assimilation and Its variants. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 530, 74–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Radcliff, B. (2002). Politics, markets, and life satisfaction: The political economy of human happiness. American Political Science Review, 95(4), 939–952.

    Google Scholar 

  • Safi, M. (2009). Immigrants’ life satisfaction in Europe: Between assimilation and discrimination. European Sociological Review (forthcoming). doi:10.1093/esr/jcp013.

  • Sayad, A. (2004). The suffering of the immigrant. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schyns, P. (1998). Crossnational differences in happiness: Economic and cultural factors explored. Social Indicators Research, 43(1), 3–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scitovsky, T. (1992). The joyless economy: The psychology of human satisfaction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. A., & Scott, R. (1989). Adaptation of immigrants: Individual differences and determinants. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. New York: Knopf.

    Google Scholar 

  • SOPEMI. (2000). Trends in international migration. Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson, B., & Wolfers, J. (2008). Economic growth and subjective well-being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox. IZA Discussion Paper 3654, Institute for the Study of Labor.

  • Stutzer, A. (2003). The role of income aspirations in individual happiness. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 54(1), 89–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suh, E., Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Triandis, H. C. (1998). The shifting basis of life satisfaction judgments across cultures: Emotions versus norms. Journal of Personality and Psychology, 74(2), 482–493.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sumner, L. W. (1996). Welfare, happiness and ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Praag, B. M. S. (1993). The relativity of the welfare concept. In M. Nussbaum & A. Sen (Eds.), The quality of life (pp. 362–385). Oxford: Clarendon.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Veenhoven, R. (1991). Is happiness relative? Social Indicators Research, 24(1), 1–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veenhoven, R., & Ehrhardt, J. (1995). The cross-national pattern of happiness: Test of predictions implied in three theories of happiness. Social Indicators Research, 34(1), 33–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vohra, N., & Adair, J. (2000). Life satisfaction of Indian immigrants in Canada. Psychology and Developing Societies, 12(2), 109–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, R. (2006). Generalized ordered logit/partial proportional odds models for ordinal dependent variables. The Stata Journal, 6(1), 58–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Values Survey. (1995). Official data file v.3. World Values Survey Association, Alec Gallup, Max Larsen, and Ronald Inglehart, principal investigators.

  • Ying, Y.-W. (1996). Immigration satisfaction of Chinese Americans: An empirical examination. Journal of Community Psychology, 24(1), 3–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

I would like to thank Elizabeth Fussell for helpful comments and suggestions on this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK

    David Bartram

Authors
  1. David Bartram
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Bartram.

Appendix

Appendix

The presence of the interaction term in Table 3 means that the only way to determine the difference in life satisfaction between two immigrants, one earning the median income of $35,000 and the other earning twice that, is to use the equation specified by the model. I show here the calculations that produce the result indicated above. The values of the other variables do not matter for this purpose as long as they remain constant for the comparison, but they are required for the calculation: our individual is therefore married, with no children, not unemployed, 40 years old, in “good” health (= 2), and attributes a moderate degree of importance of God in his life (= 5). (Recalling that income in this model is logged, the first term after the constant below uses the natural logarithm of 35, thus 3.555.)

For an immigrant with these characteristics earning a median income, then, life satisfaction is predicted by y = 6.843 + 0.198 (3.555) − 2.189 (1) + 0.563 (1*3.555) + 0.720 (1) − 0.320 (0) − 0.042 (0) − 0.314 (0) − 0.429 (0) + 0.019 (402/100) − 0.466 (0) + 0.09 (5) − 0.608 (2) = 7.339.

For an immigrant earning twice the median income, life satisfaction is predicted by y = 6.843 + 0.198 (4.2485) − 2.189 (1) + 0.563 (1*4.2485) + 0.720 (1) − 0.320 (0) − 0.042 (0) − 0.314 (0) − 0.429 (0) + 0.019 (402/100) − 0.466 (0) + 0.09 (5) − 0.608 (2) = 7.866. The difference between the two is 0.527.

In addition, the presence of an interaction term whose counterpart is income means that the OLS coefficient for the “immigrant” variable in model 2 cannot be interpreted directly. A direct comparison between immigrants and non-immigrants using this coefficient would be misleading insofar as it would describe individuals whose amount of income is zero.

The following equation using the model in Table 2 predicts the life satisfaction of a US native earning median income. As before, the values of the other variables do not matter for this purpose as long as they remain constant.

Life satisfaction, then, is predicted by y = 6.843 + 0.198 (3.555) − 2.189 (0) + 0.563 (0*3.555) + 0.720 (1) − 0.320 (0) − 0.042 (0) − 0.314 (0) − 0.429 (0) + 0.019 (402/100) − 0.466 (0) + 0.09 (5) − 0.608 (2) = 7.528.

For an immigrant with the same characteristics earning a median income, life satisfaction is, as before, 7.339. The difference, then, is 0.189.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bartram, D. Economic Migration and Happiness: Comparing Immigrants’ and Natives’ Happiness Gains From Income. Soc Indic Res 103, 57–76 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-010-9696-2

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-010-9696-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation