Remittances and Well-Being Among Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China

36 Pages Posted: 16 Jun 2012 Last revised: 16 Apr 2023

See all articles by Alpaslan Akay

Alpaslan Akay

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Corrado Giulietti

Department of Economics

Juan Robalino

Universidad de Costa Rica - School of Economics

Klaus F. Zimmermann

Global Labor Organization (GLO); UNU-MERIT; Maastricht University, Department of Economics; Free University Berlin; University of Bonn; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); Journal of Population Economics

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.

Keywords: subjective well-being, migrants, remittances

JEL Classification: J61, D63, D64, I3

Suggested Citation

Akay, Alpaslan and Giulietti, Corrado and Robalino, Juan and Zimmermann, Klaus F., Remittances and Well-Being Among Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China. IZA Discussion Paper No. 6631, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2085218 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2085218

Alpaslan Akay (Contact Author)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Corrado Giulietti

Department of Economics ( email )

University Rd.
Southampton SO17 1BJ, Hampshire SO17 1LP
United Kingdom

Juan Robalino

Universidad de Costa Rica - School of Economics ( email )

San Jose
Costa Rica

Klaus F. Zimmermann

Global Labor Organization (GLO) ( email )

Bonn
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://https://glabor.org/

UNU-MERIT ( email )

Keizer Karelplein 19
Maastricht, 6211TC
Netherlands

Maastricht University, Department of Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 616
Maastricht, Limburg 6200MD
Netherlands

University of Bonn

Postfach 2220
Bonn, D-53012
Germany

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Journal of Population Economics

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D-69121 Heidelberg
Germany

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