Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/62456 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6631
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The main objective of this paper is to propose a systematic approach to empirically analyse the effect of remittances on the utility of migrants, as proxied by their subjective well-being (SWB). Using data from a new survey on China (RUMiC), we estimate models in which a measure of subjective well- being is regressed on the level of remittances, and we find a sizeable positive correlation. The effect of remittances on well-being varies with the socio- economic characteristics of migrants, migration experience and the diversity of family arrangements. As a complementary objective, we use SWB measures to elicit the motivations behind remittances and find evidence that both altruistic (such as pure altruism and reciprocity) and contractual motivations (such as co-insurance and investment) are at work among rural-to-urban migrants in China.
Subjects: 
migrants
subjective well-being
remittances
JEL: 
J61
D63
D64
I3
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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