Do Non-Economic Quality of Life Factors Drive Immigration?

• Published in: Social indicators research Vol. 110; no. 1; pp. 1 - 15
• Main Authors: Pacheco, Gail Anne, Rossouw, Stephanie, Lewer, Joshua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01.01.2013; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Correlation analysis; Countries; Demographic economics; Economic indices; Economic migration; Economics; Employment; Foreign Countries; Gravity models; Human Development Index; Human ecology and demography; Human Geography; Human migration; Immigrants; Immigration; Income; Index of Economic Freedom; International migration; Literature reviews; Microeconomics; Migration; Migration Patterns; Motivation; Noncitizens; OECD; Per capita; Population; Population number; Public Health; Quality of Life; Quality of Life Research; Social Indicators; Social research; Social Sciences; Sociology; Sociology of migrations; Studies; Variables; Welfare; Wellbeing; Immigration; Gravity model; Quality of life; Geography; Quality of Life; OECD; Demographic factor
• ISSN: 0303-8300; 1573-0921
• DOI: 10.1007/s11205-011-9924-4

This paper contributes to the immigration literature by generating two unique non-economic quality of life (QOL) indices and testing their role on recent migration patterns. Applying the generated QOL indices in conjunction with four independent welfare measures to an augmented gravity model of immigration, this paper finds an insignificant relationship between the six non-economic QOL measures and immigration flows for a panel of 16 OECD countries from 1991 to 2000. However, the results suggest that other factors such as the stock of immigrants from the source country already living in the OECD destination country, population size, relative incomes, and geographic factors all significantly drive the flow of immigration for the sample tested.