Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/80711 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 7370
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper analyses incomes and socioeconomic status of internal migrants over time and in comparison to their new neighbors and investigates whether status consumption is a way for newly arrived city dwellers to signal their social standing. Using a novel dataset from the emerging economy of Kazakhstan we find that internal migrants earn an income and status premium for their move. In a comparison to indigenous city dwellers their earnings and household incomes are not significantly different; however, mobile households report a significantly higher subjective socio-economic status. Exploiting expenditure data, we find that recent migrant households gain status from using visible consumption to impress their new neighbors. This signaling might be used as adaptation to the new economic and social environment or to gain access to social capital.
Subjects: 
absolute and relative welfare
income
status consumption
signaling model
conspicuous consumption
adaptation
internal migration
emerging economy
rural-urban migration
JEL: 
P36
I31
R23
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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