Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/150810 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research No. 264
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
I propose two new tests of Falk and Knell's (2004) prediction that individuals' reference income increases with ability. To overcome the difficulty that the reference incomeis not observed in existing large data sets, I extend Falk and Knell's model to establish a link between immigrants' reference income and their return visits to their countries of origin. I derive the (arguably counter-intuitive) predictions that more educated immigrants are less likely to have returned to their country of origin for a visit, and that they are more likely to have difficulty feeling at home when they do return for a visit. Both predictions are confirmed on four waves of data from the German Socio-Economic Panel. The estimated marginal effects are statistically significant, but rather small in size.
Subjects: 
reference standard
social comparison
immigration
Germany
JEL: 
D62
D63
H31
Z13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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