And What About The Family Back Home? International Migration and Happiness In Cuenca, Ecuador

Resumen

In this study we use data on subjective well being and migration of familymembers in Cuenca, one of Ecuador's largest cities, to examine the impact of migrationon the happiness of the family left behind. While a cursory examination of thedata suggests that the heads of households that have experienced the migration ofone or more family members are less happy, a more careful analysis reveals otherwise.Households that have been impacted by migration express equal levels of happinessas those households that have not been affected by migration. One plausibleexplanation for our finding is that the remittances that households receive followingthe migration of loved ones counteract the downsides to family emigration.