Remittances and well-being among rural-to-urban migrants in China

Arbeitspapier

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.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 6631

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers ; Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement ; Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
• Subject: migrants ; subjective well-being ; remittances ; Rücküberweisung (Migranten) ; Landflucht ; Binnenwanderung ; Zufriedenheit ; China

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Akay, Alpaslan ; Giulietti, Corrado ; Robalino, Juan David ; Zimmermann, Klaus F.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2012

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/62456
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET