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Life satisfaction of immigrants: does cultural assimilation matter?

Author

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  • Viola Angelini
  • Laura Casi
  • Luca Corazzini

Abstract

To investigate empirically the association between a direct measure of assimilation with a host culture and immigrants’ subjective well-being, this study uses data from the German Socio-Economic Panel. A positive, significant association arises between cultural assimilation and immigrants’ life satisfaction, even after controlling for several potential confounding factors, such as immigrants’ individual (demographic and socio-economic) characteristics and regional controls that capture their external social conditions. Finally, the strength of the association varies with time since migration; it is significant for “established” and second-generation immigrants but vanishes for “recent” immigrants. Copyright The Author(s) 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Viola Angelini & Laura Casi & Luca Corazzini, 2015. "Life satisfaction of immigrants: does cultural assimilation matter?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(3), pages 817-844, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:28:y:2015:i:3:p:817-844
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-015-0552-1
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cultural assimilation; Life-satisfaction; Immigration; J15; I31; Z10; F22;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration

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