IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp7370.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Showing Off to the New Neighbors? Income, Socioeconomic Status and Consumption Patterns of Internal Migrants

Author

Listed:
  • Danzer, Alexander M.

    (Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt)

  • Dietz, Barbara

    (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Regensburg)

  • Gatskova, Kseniia

    (Leibnitz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Regensburg)

  • Schmillen, Achim

    (World Bank)

Abstract

This paper analyses incomes and socioeconomic status of internal migrants over time and in comparison to their new neighbors and investigates whether status consumption is a way for newly arrived city dwellers to signal their social standing. Using a novel dataset from the emerging economy of Kazakhstan we find that internal migrants earn an income and status premium for their move. In a comparison to indigenous city dwellers their earnings and household incomes are not significantly different; however, mobile households report a significantly higher subjective socio-economic status. Exploiting expenditure data, we find that recent migrant households gain status from using visible consumption to impress their new neighbors. This signaling might be used as adaptation to the new economic and social environment or to gain access to social capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Danzer, Alexander M. & Dietz, Barbara & Gatskova, Kseniia & Schmillen, Achim, 2013. "Showing Off to the New Neighbors? Income, Socioeconomic Status and Consumption Patterns of Internal Migrants," IZA Discussion Papers 7370, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7370
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp7370.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ravallion, Martin & Lokshin, Michael, 2002. "Self-rated economic welfare in Russia," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1453-1473, September.
    2. Ed Hopkins & Tatiana Kornienko, 2004. "Running to Keep in the Same Place: Consumer Choice as a Game of Status," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 1085-1107, September.
    3. Gagnon, Jason & Xenogiani, Theodora & Xing, Chunbing, 2009. "Are all migrants really worse off in urban labour markets: new empirical evidence from China," MPRA Paper 16109, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Aldashev, Alisher & Dietz, Barbara, 2011. "Determinants of internal migration in Kazakhstan," MPRA Paper 34922, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Kerwin Kofi Charles & Erik Hurst & Nikolai Roussanov, 2009. "Conspicuous Consumption and Race," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(2), pages 425-467.
    6. Berney, L. R. & Blane, D. B., 1997. "Collecting retrospective data: Accuracy of recall after 50 years judged against historical records," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 1519-1525, November.
    7. Brown, Philip H. & Bulte, Erwin & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2011. "Positional spending and status seeking in rural China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 139-149, September.
    8. Di Tella, Rafael & Haisken-De New, John & MacCulloch, Robert, 2010. "Happiness adaptation to income and to status in an individual panel," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 834-852, December.
    9. Harris, John R & Todaro, Michael P, 1970. "Migration, Unemployment & Development: A Two-Sector Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 126-142, March.
    10. William Dillinger, 2007. "Poverty and Regional Development in Eastern Europe and Central Asia," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6739.
    11. Larry A. Sjaastad, 1970. "The Costs and Returns of Human Migration," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Harry W. Richardson (ed.), Regional Economics, chapter 9, pages 115-133, Palgrave Macmillan.
    12. Akay, Alpaslan & Bargain, Olivier & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2012. "Relative concerns of rural-to-urban migrants in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 421-441.
    13. Alexander M. Danzer & Barbara Dietz & Kseniia Gatskova, 2013. "Migration and Remittances in Tajikistan: Survey Technical Report," Working Papers 327, Leibniz Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies).
    14. Markus Christen & Ruskin Morgan, 2005. "Keeping Up With the Joneses: Analyzing the Effect of Income Inequality on Consumer Borrowing," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 145-173, June.
    15. Demakakos, Panayotes & Nazroo, James & Breeze, Elizabeth & Marmot, Michael, 2008. "Socioeconomic status and health: The role of subjective social status," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 330-340, July.
    16. Stark, Oded & Taylor, J Edward, 1991. "Migration Incentives, Migration Types: The Role of Relative Deprivation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(408), pages 1163-1178, September.
    17. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo, 2007. "The Economic Lives of the Poor," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(1), pages 141-168, Winter.
    18. Barbara Dietz & Kseniia Gatskova & Achim Schmillen, 2011. "Migration and Remittances in Kazakhstan: First Evidence from a Household Survey," Working Papers 304, Leibniz Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies).
    19. Gang, Ira N & Stuart, Robert C, 2002. "The Political Economy of Russian City Growth," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(3), pages 491-508, April.
    20. Thomas J. Cooke & Adrian J. Bailey, 1996. "Family Migration and the Employment of Married Women and Men," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 72(1), pages 38-48, January.
    21. Beata Nowok & Maarten van Ham & Allan M Findlay & Vernon Gayle, 2013. "Does Migration Make You Happy? A Longitudinal Study of Internal Migration and Subjective Well-Being," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(4), pages 986-1002, April.
    22. Knight, John & Gunatilaka, Ramani, 2010. "Great Expectations? The Subjective Well-being of Rural-Urban Migrants in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 113-124, January.
    23. Budy P. Resosudarmo & Asep Suryahadi & Raden Purnagunawan & Athia Yumna & Asri Yusrina, 2009. "The Socioeconomic and Health Status of Rural–Urban Migrants in Indonesia," Development Economics Working Papers 23042, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    24. Xin Meng & Chris Manning & Li Shi & Tadjuddin Nur Effendi (ed.), 2010. "The Great Migration," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13619.
    25. Kaus, Wolfhard, 2013. "Conspicuous consumption and “race”: Evidence from South Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 63-73.
    26. Lamia Kamal-Chaoui & Edward Leeman & Zhang Rufei, 2009. "Urban Trends and Policy in China," OECD Regional Development Working Papers 2009/1, OECD Publishing.
    27. Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2007. "Feeling Richer or Poorer than Others: A Cross‐section and Panel Analysis of Subjective Economic Status in Indonesia," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 169-194, June.
    28. Alberto Dávila & Marie T. Mora, 2008. "Changes In The Relative Earnings Gap Between Natives And Immigrants Along The U.S.‐Mexico Border," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 525-545, August.
    29. Omer Moav & Zvika Neeman, 2010. "Status and Poverty," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 8(2-3), pages 413-420, 04-05.
    30. Veblen, Thorstein, 1899. "The Theory of the Leisure Class," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number veblen1899.
    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. Gang, Ira N. & Schmillen, Achim, 2017. "Sometimes, winners lose: Economic disparity and indigenization in Kazakhstan," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 605-621.
    2. Mariya Hake & Philipp Poyntner, 2022. "Keeping Up With the Novaks? Income Distribution as a Determinant of Household Debt in CESEE," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(S1), pages 224-260, April.
    3. Zsoka Koczan, 2022. "Perceptions of economic well‐being in the Western Balkans," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 845-867, October.
    4. World Bank Group, 2016. "Kazakhstan Jobs Strategy," World Bank Publications - Reports 27266, The World Bank Group.
    5. Chen, Xiaofen, 2018. "Why do migrant households consume so little?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 197-209.
    6. Cheng, Zhiming, 2021. "Education and consumption: Evidence from migrants in Chinese cities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 206-215.
    7. Qin, Xiaodi & Wu, Haitao & Li, Rongrong, 2022. "Digital finance and household carbon emissions in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    8. repec:ost:wpaper:345 is not listed 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. Li, Linyang, 2018. "Financial inclusion and poverty: The role of relative income," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 165-191.
    2. Malgorzata Switek, 2016. "Internal Migration and Life Satisfaction: Well-Being Paths of Young Adult Migrants," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(1), pages 191-241, January.
    3. Deepika Kandpal & Dibyendu Maiti, 2022. "Social Identity, Local Neighbourhood Effect and Conspicuous Consumption: Evidence From India," Working papers 327, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    4. Kevin B. Grier & Daniel L. Hicks & Weici Yuan, 2016. "Marriage Market Matching And Conspicuous Consumption In China," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(2), pages 1251-1262, April.
    5. König, Tobias & Lausen, Tobias, 2016. "Relative consumption preferences and public provision of private goods," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Market Behavior SP II 2016-213, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    6. Jinan Zeidan, 2015. "Are Comparisons Luxuries? Subjective Poverty and Positional Concerns in Indonesia," AMSE Working Papers 1505, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    7. Zheng, Xiaoying & Baskin, Ernest & Peng, Siqing, 2018. "Feeling inferior, showing off: The effect of nonmaterial social comparisons on conspicuous consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 196-205.
    8. repec:grz:wpsses:2021-07 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Omer Moav and & Zvika Neeman, 2012. "Saving Rates and Poverty: The Role of Conspicuous Consumption and Human Capital," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(563), pages 933-956, September.
    10. Wang, Wangshuai & Ma, Tianjiao & Li, Jie & Zhang, Mo, 2020. "The pauper wears prada? How debt stress promotes luxury consumption," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    11. Jinan Zeidan, 2015. "Are Comparisons Luxuries? Subjective Poverty and Positional Concerns in Indonesia," Working Papers halshs-01114396, HAL.
    12. Xi Chen & Xiaobo Zhang, 2012. "Costly Posturing: Relative Status, Ceremonies and Early Child Development in China," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2012-070, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Andreas Chai, 2017. "Tackling Keynes’ question: a look back on 15 years of Learning To Consume," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 251-271, April.
    14. Stillman, Steven & Gibson, John & McKenzie, David & Rohorua, Halahingano, 2015. "Miserable Migrants? Natural Experiment Evidence on International Migration and Objective and Subjective Well-Being," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 79-93.
    15. Switek, Maggie, 2012. "Internal Migration and Life Satisfaction: Well-Being Effects of Moving as a Young Adult," IZA Discussion Papers 7016, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Zheng Fang, 2017. "Panel Quantile Regressions and the Subjective Well-Being in Urban China: Evidence from RUMiC Data," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 11-24, May.
    17. Lombardo, Vincenzo, 2012. "Social inclusion and the emergence of development traps," MPRA Paper 36766, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Farré, Lídia & Fasani, Francesco, 2013. "Media exposure and internal migration — Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 48-61.
    19. Friehe, Tim & Mechtel, Mario, 2014. "Conspicuous consumption and political regimes: Evidence from East and West Germany," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 62-81.
    20. Hao, Li & Houser, Daniel & Mao, Lei & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2016. "Migrations, risks, and uncertainty: A field experiment in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 131(PA), pages 126-140.
    21. Andrew E. Clark & Claudia Senik, 2010. "Will GDP growth increase happiness in developing countries?," PSE Working Papers halshs-00564985, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    internal migration; absolute and relative welfare; income; status consumption; signaling model; conspicuous consumption; adaptation; emerging economy; rural-urban migration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • P36 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training; Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:iza:izadps:dp7370. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.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.