IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/ijsepp/ijse-03-2021-0181.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cannot keep up with the Joneses: how relative deprivation pushes internal migration in Austria

Author

Listed:
  • Stefan Jestl
  • Mathias Moser
  • Anna Katharina Raggl

Abstract

Purpose - Using aggregated data at the municipality level allows the authors to assess the role of relative deprivation (RD) – a measure of income inequality – on top of absolute income in shaping internal migration in Austria. Design/methodology/approach - In this study, the authors analyse the effect of regional income inequality on emigration rates of Austrian municipalities using a unique spatial dataset that is constructed based on Austrian administrative register data. The register-based data contain information on the municipality of residence of all individuals aged 16 and over that have their main residency in Austria, as well as their income and socio-demographic characteristics. Findings - The authors find that increases in relative deprivation in a municipality are related to higher emigration from the municipality. Allowing for heterogeneous effects across income, education and age groups reveals that the effect is stronger among those with comparably low levels of income and among low-skilled and young individuals. Originality/value - The unique spatially disaggregated perspective is based on novel data from Austrian administrative registers, which comprehensively capture the economic situation and geographic movements of the whole Austrian population. Most importantly, this approach allows for measuring income inequality within local communities and for a direct identification of social groups that are more sensitive to inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefan Jestl & Mathias Moser & Anna Katharina Raggl, 2021. "Cannot keep up with the Joneses: how relative deprivation pushes internal migration in Austria," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 49(2), pages 210-231, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:ijsepp:ijse-03-2021-0181
    DOI: 10.1108/IJSE-03-2021-0181
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJSE-03-2021-0181/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJSE-03-2021-0181/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/IJSE-03-2021-0181?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kristin Kronenberg & Tobias Kronenberg, 2011. "Keeping up with the Joneses by finding a better-paid job - The effect of relative income on job mobility," ERSA conference papers ersa11p1445, European Regional Science Association.
    2. Stark Oded & Wang, 2000. "A Theory of Migration as a Response to Relative Deprivation," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 1(2), pages 131-143, May.
    3. James Raymer & Guy Abel & Peter W. F. Smith, 2007. "Combining census and registration data to estimate detailed elderly migration flows in England and Wales," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 170(4), pages 891-908, October.
    4. Andrew E. Clark & Nicolai Kristensen & Niels Westergård-Nielsen, 2009. "Economic Satisfaction and Income Rank in Small Neighbourhoods," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(2-3), pages 519-527, 04-05.
    5. Mathias Moser & Matthias Schnetzer, 2017. "The income–inequality nexus in a developed country: small-scale regional evidence from Austria," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3), pages 454-466, March.
    6. Thomas Liebig & Alfonso Sousa‐Poza, 2004. "Migration, Self‐Selection and Income Inequality: An International Analysis," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 125-146, February.
    7. Oded Stark, 2017. "Migration when Social Preferences are Ordinal: Steady-state Population Distribution and Social Welfare," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 84(336), pages 647-666, October.
    8. Peter Congdon, 2010. "Random‐effects models for migration attractivity and retentivity: a Bayesian methodology," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 173(4), pages 755-774, October.
    9. Erzo F. P. Luttmer, 2005. "Neighbors as Negatives: Relative Earnings and Well-Being," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(3), pages 963-1002.
    10. Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2006. "The Evolution of Top Incomes: A Historical and International Perspective," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 200-205, May.
    11. Sen, Amartya K, 1976. "Poverty: An Ordinal Approach to Measurement," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 44(2), pages 219-231, March.
    12. Peter W. F. Smith & James Raymer & Corrado Giulietti, 2010. "Combining available migration data in England to study economic activity flows over time," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 173(4), pages 733-753, October.
    13. Hyll, Walter & Schneider, Lutz, 2014. "Relative deprivation and migration preferences," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 334-337.
    14. Stark, Oded & Micevska, Maja & Mycielski, Jerzy, 2009. "Relative poverty as a determinant of migration: Evidence from Poland," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 103(3), pages 119-122, June.
    15. Shlomo Yitzhaki, 1979. "Relative Deprivation and the Gini Coefficient," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 93(2), pages 321-324.
    16. Michael A. Quinn, 2006. "Relative Deprivation, Wage Differentials and Mexican Migration," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 135-153, February.
    17. Mark Tranmer & Andrew Pickles & Ed Fieldhouse & Mark Elliot & Angela Dale & Mark Brown & David Martin & David Steel & Chris Gardiner, 2005. "The case for small area microdata," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 168(1), pages 29-49, January.
    18. Oded Stark & J. Taylor, 1989. "Relative deprivation and international migration oded stark," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 26(1), pages 1-14, February.
    19. Ludi Simpson, 2007. "Ghettos of the mind: the empirical behaviour of indices of segregation and diversity," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 170(2), pages 405-424, March.
    20. Mathias Czaika & Hein de Haas, 2012. "The Role of Internal and International Relative Deprivation in Global Migration," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 423-442, December.
    21. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 4, pages 69-91, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    22. Verme, Paolo, 2013. "The relative income and relative deprivation hypotheses : a review of the empirical literature," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6606, The World Bank.
    23. H. Spencer Banzhaf & Randall P. Walsh, 2008. "Do People Vote with Their Feet? An Empirical Test of Tiebout," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(3), pages 843-863, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Georg Fischer & Stefan Jestl & Leon Podkaminer & Armon Rezai & Robert Stehrer, 2018. "Monthly Report No. 4/2018," wiiw Monthly Reports 2018-04, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Silvia Maja Melzer & Ruud J. Muffels, 2012. "Migrant's Pursuit of Happiness: The Impact of Adaption, Social Comparison and Relative Deprivation; Evidence from a 'Natural' Experiment," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 448, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    2. Shamsuddin, Mrittika & Katsaiti, Marina Selini & El Anshasy, Amany A., 2022. "Income rank and income concerns: What correlates with international migration intentions?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 490-505.
    3. Amany A. El Anshasy & Mrittika Shamsuddin & Marina-Selini Katsaiti, 2023. "Financial Wellbeing and International Migration Intentions: Evidence from Global Surveys," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(7), pages 2261-2289, October.
    4. Oded Stark & Franz Rendl & Marcin Jakubek, 2012. "The merger of populations, the incidence of marriages, and aggregate unhappiness," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 331-344, April.
    5. David, Blight, 2020. "Trends of International Migration since Post-World War II," MPRA Paper 106307, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2020.
    6. Binhan Elif, Yilmaz, 2016. "International Migration Trends and Policy Effects," MPRA Paper 106103, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2016.
    7. Nikolova, Milena & Graham, Carol, 2015. "In transit: The well-being of migrants from transition and post-transition countries," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 164-186.
    8. Oded Stark, 2017. "Migration when Social Preferences are Ordinal: Steady-state Population Distribution and Social Welfare," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 84(336), pages 647-666, October.
    9. Stark, Oded & Fan, C. Simon, 2010. "Migration for degrading work as an escape from humiliation," MPRA Paper 28905, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Oded Stark & Walter Hyll, 2011. "On the Economic Architecture of the Workplace: Repercussions of Social Comparisons among Heterogeneous Workers," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(2), pages 349-375.
    11. Armenak Antinyan & Luca Corazzini, 2018. "Relative standing and temporary migration: Empirical evidence from the South Caucasus," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 361-383, February.
    12. Stark, Oded, 2022. "Risk-laden migration as a response to relative deprivation: A hypothesis," Discussion Papers 329580, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    13. Bożena, Chrząstowska, 2018. "The Effectiveness of Migration Policies," MPRA Paper 106128, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2018.
    14. Oded Stark, 2010. "Looking at the Integration of Nations through the Lens of the Merger of Populations: Preliminary Superadditivity and Impossibility Results," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 146(IV), pages 661-675, December.
    15. Stark, Oded & Fan, C. Simon, 2011. "Migration for degrading work as an escape from humiliation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(3), pages 241-247, March.
    16. Les, Christidis, 2018. "Effectiveness and Trends of International Migration since Post-World War II," MPRA Paper 106282, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2018.
    17. Stark, Oded & Byra, Lukasz & Kosiorowski, Grzegorz, 2020. "On the precarious link between the Gini coefficient and the incentive to migrate," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    18. Sakketa, T.G., 2018. "Relative Deprivation in Income, Assets, and Social Capital: Motivational and Deterrent Impacts on the Well-Being of Rural Youth," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277116, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    19. Kashi Kafle & Rui Benfica & Paul Winters, 2020. "Does relative deprivation induce migration? Evidence from Sub‐Saharan Africa," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(3), pages 999-1019, May.
    20. Michael A. Clemens, 2014. "Does development reduce migration?," Chapters, in: Robert E.B. Lucas (ed.), International Handbook on Migration and Economic Development, chapter 6, pages 152-185, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Relative deprivation; Inequality; Internal migration; D31; R23;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:ijsepp:ijse-03-2021-0181. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.