Economic Preferences and the Self-selection of Immigrants. A new GLO Discussion Paper by GLO Fellows Crystal Zhan and Sumit Deole.

A new GLO Discussion Paper finds a higher migration propensity among individuals who are more altruistic, patient, and trusting. 

GLO Discussion Paper No. 1156, 2022

Economic Preferences and the Self-selection of Immigrants  Download PDF
by Zhan, Crystal & Deole, Sumit

GLO Fellows Crystal Zhan and Sumit Deole

Sumit Deole

Author Abstract: Classical theories hypothesize individual economic preferences, including preferences toward risk, time, and trust, as determinants for migration intention. In the paper, we combine data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, European Social Survey, and World Values Survey to investigate how immigrants to Germany are self-selected from the origin population based on their preferences. We find a higher migration propensity among individuals who are more altruistic, patient, and trusting, conditional on age, gender, education, and a series of origin country’s economic and political factors. However, individuals are positively selected on risk appetite in low-risk countries but adversely selected in high-risk countries. The degree of selectivity regarding preferences is also heterogeneous across demographics and origin-country characteristics.

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JUST PUBLISHED
Vol. 35, Issue 4, October 2022: Journal of Population Economics (JOPE): 15 articles
https://link.springer.com/journal/148/volumes-and-issues/35-4
Just released: CiteScore of JOPE moves up from 3.9 (2020) to 6.5 (2021)! LINK
Similar, its Impact Factor is now 4.7 (2021) after 2.8 (2020)! LINK

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