IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/onb/oenbfi/y2022iq3-22b1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The role of public services quality in shaping migration intentions in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Anna Katharina Raggl

    (Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Foreign Research Division)

Abstract

What role does the quality of public services play in shaping migration intentions? Using OeNB Euro Survey data collected in 2018, we study the impact of individual perceptions of public services quality on individuals’ migration intentions in ten Central, Eastern and Southeastern European (CESEE) countries. We apply ordinary least squares (OLS) as well as instrumental variable (IV) estimations, using externally merged infrastructure-related variables and individuals’ opinions on the adequacy of public spending on services as instrumental variables. Our findings suggest that dissatisfaction with the quality of public services in the home countries increases the likelihood of individuals having migration intentions. Broken down by the type of public service, we find that dissatisfaction with social security, health, public infrastructure and with services that target businesses and regional development is associated with higher migration aspirations. Furthermore, for people with young children, we see a higher effect on migration intentions resulting from dissatisfaction with education, health and public safety. For self-employed individuals, the effect of dissatisfaction with public services that address companies and regional development is particularly important. The results further confirm that sociodemographic characteristics, economic factors and network effects are closely associated with the aspiration to move abroad.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Katharina Raggl, 2022. "The role of public services quality in shaping migration intentions in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q3/22, pages 7-30.
    • Handle: RePEc:onb:oenbfi:y:2022:i:q3/22:b:1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.oenb.at/dam/jcr:1bb56455-aa40-4418-8fb5-b7659f740936/02_feei-Q3-22_The-role-of-public-services.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dustmann, Christian & Okatenko, Anna, 2014. "Out-migration, wealth constraints, and the quality of local amenities," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 52-63.
    2. Manchin, Miriam & Orazbayev, Sultan, 2018. "Social networks and the intention to migrate," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 360-374.
    3. Otrachshenko, Vladimir & Popova, Olga, 2014. "Life (dis)satisfaction and the intention to migrate: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 40-49.
    4. Hendrik P. van Dalen & Kène Henkens, 2013. "Explaining emigration intentions and behaviour in the Netherlands, 2005-10," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 67(2), pages 225-241, July.
    5. 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..
    6. Frédéric Docquier & Giovanni Peri & Ilse Ruyssen, 2016. "The Cross-country Determinants of Potential and Actual Migration," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: The Economics of International Migration, chapter 12, pages 361-423, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Daniel Chiquiar & Gordon H. Hanson, 2005. "International Migration, Self-Selection, and the Distribution of Wages: Evidence from Mexico and the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(2), pages 239-281, April.
    8. Chen, Yong & Rosenthal, Stuart S., 2008. "Local amenities and life-cycle migration: Do people move for jobs or fun?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 519-537, November.
    9. Anna Katharina Raggl, 2019. "Migration intentions in CESEE: sociodemographic profiles of prospective emigrants and their motives for moving," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q1/19, pages 49-67.
    10. Basu, Deepankar, 2015. "Asymptotic Bias of OLS in the Presence of Reverse Causality," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2015-18, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    11. van Dalen, H.P. & Henkens, C.J.I.M., 2013. "Explaining emigration intentions and behaviour in the Netherlands 2005-2010," Other publications TiSEM 511bab2c-f350-423e-9843-e, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    12. Barry Chiswick, 1999. "Are Immigrants Favorably Self-Selected?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 181-185, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Friebel, Guido & Manchin, Miriam & Mendola, Mariapia & Prarolo, Giovanni, 2018. "International Migration Intentions and Illegal Costs: Evidence from Africa-to-Europe Smuggling Routes," IZA Discussion Papers 11978, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Anna Katharina Raggl, 2019. "Migration intentions in CESEE: sociodemographic profiles of prospective emigrants and their motives for moving," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q1/19, pages 49-67.
    3. Friebel, Guido & Manchin, Miriam & Mendola, Mariapia & Prarolo, Giovanni, 2018. "International Migration Intentions and Illegal Costs: Evidence Using Africa-to-Europe Smuggling Routes," CEPR Discussion Papers 13326, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Michael A. Clemens & Mariapia Mendola, 2020. "Migration from Developing Countries: Selection, Income Elasticity, and Simpson’s Paradox," Working Papers 539, Center for Global Development.
    5. Guido, Friebel & Miriam, Manchin & Mariapia, Mendola & Giovanni, Prarolo, 2017. "Human Smuggling and Intentions to Migrate: Global Evidence from a Supply Shock along Africa-to-Europe Migration Routes," Working Papers 375, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised 06 Dec 2017.
    6. Mariapia Mendola, 2018. "Global evidence on prospective migrants from developing countries," Working Papers 387, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised 19 Sep 2018.
    7. Z. Eylem Gevrek & Pinar Kunt & Heinrich W. Ursprung, 2021. "Education, political discontent, and emigration intentions: evidence from a natural experiment in Turkey," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 186(3), pages 563-585, March.
    8. Friebel, Guido & Manchin, Miriam & Mendola, Mariapia & Prarolo, Giovanni, 2024. "International migration and illegal costs: Evidence from Africa-to-Europe smuggling routes," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    9. Michel Beine & Michel Bierlaire & Evangelos Paschalidis & Silvia Varotto & Andreas B. Vortisch, 2024. "The Impact of a Possible Trump Reelection on Mexican Immigration Pressures in Alternative Countries," CESifo Working Paper Series 11195, CESifo.
    10. Marino Fages, Diego & Morales Cerda, Matías, 2022. "Migration and social preferences," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    11. 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.
    12. Manchin, Miriam & Orazbayev, Sultan, 2018. "Social networks and the intention to migrate," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 360-374.
    13. Parag Mahajan & Dean Yang, 2020. "Taken by Storm: Hurricanes, Migrant Networks, and US Immigration," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 250-277, April.
    14. Riccardo Turati, 2021. "Do you want to migrate to the United States? Migration intentions and Cultural Traits in Latin America," Working Papers wpdea2101, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    15. Falco, Chiara & Rotondi, Valentina, 2016. "The Less Extreme, the More You Leave: Radical Islam and Willingness to Migrate," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 122-133.
    16. Michael D. Smith & Dennis Wesselbaum, 2023. "Financial inclusion and international migration in low- and middle-income countries," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(1), pages 341-370, July.
    17. Ahmad Sadiddin & Andrea Cattaneo & Marinella Cirillo & Meghan Miller, 2019. "Food insecurity as a determinant of international migration: evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(3), pages 515-530, June.
    18. Cirillo, Marinella & Cattaneo, Andrea & Miller, Meghan & Sadiddin, Ahmad, 2022. "Establishing the link between internal and international migration: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    19. Bertoli, Simone & Dequiedt, Vianney & Zenou, Yves, 2016. "Can selective immigration policies reduce migrants' quality?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 100-109.
    20. Simone Bertoli & Hillel Rapoport, 2015. "Heaven's Swing Door: Endogenous Skills, Migration Networks, and the Effectiveness of Quality-Selective Immigration Policies," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 117(2), pages 565-591, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    migration intentions; quality of public services; Central; Eastern and Southeastern Europe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe

    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:onb:oenbfi:y:2022:i:q3/22:b:1. 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: Elisabeth Beckmann (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/oenbbat.html .

    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.