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The Impact of Migration Flows on Well-Being of Elderly Natives and Migrants: Evidence from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe

2020    Akdede, Sacit Hadi; Giovanis, Eleftherios

Immigration has been a long-standing contentious issue across the globe. According to a recent report published by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in 2015, the majority of people in the Northern and Western European countries report positive perceptions towards immigration compared to those of the Southern European countries. However, little is known about how migration affects the well-being of old aged people. The main aim of this study is to examine the association between net migration rates and the subjective and objective well-being of old-aged natives in Europe, using the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe during the period of 2004-2017. The estimates will also take place across different regions and across various groups such as gender, age, education level, and first- and second-generation migrants. In addition to the conventional methods, such as the ordinary least squares (OLS) used to analyse the relevant associations, we also apply an instrumental variables (IV) approach to account for possible endogeneity in migration. The results are mixed as we find a positive impact of migration on the subjective well-being and wages of natives and second-generation immigrants in the Northern/Western and Eastern European countries, and a negative impact in the Southern region.