Migration and Mental Health: Evidence from a Natural Experiment
People migrate to improve their well-being. Yet a large literature suggests that migration can be a stressful process, with potentially negative impacts on mental health. However, to truly understand the effect of migration one must compare the mental health of migrants to what their mental health w...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | EN |
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2012
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4963 |
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okr-10986-49632021-04-23T14:02:20Z Migration and Mental Health: Evidence from a Natural Experiment Stillman, Steven McKenzie, David Gibson, John International Migration F220 Health Production I120 Geographic Labor Mobility Immigrant Workers J610 Economic Development: Human Resources Human Development Income Distribution Migration O150 People migrate to improve their well-being. Yet a large literature suggests that migration can be a stressful process, with potentially negative impacts on mental health. However, to truly understand the effect of migration one must compare the mental health of migrants to what their mental health would be had they stayed in their home country. The existing literature is not able to do this. New Zealand allows a quota of Tongans to immigrate each year with a random ballot used to choose amongst the excess number of applicants. Experimental estimates of the mental health effects of migration are obtained by comparing the mental health of migrants who were successful applicants in the random ballot to the mental health of those who applied to migrate under the quota, but whose names were not drawn. Migration is found to lead to improvements in mental health, particularly for women and those with poor mental health. 2012-03-30T07:30:36Z 2012-03-30T07:30:36Z 2009 Journal Article Journal of Health Economics 01676296 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4963 EN http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Journal Article New Zealand |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
EN |
| topic |
International Migration F220 Health Production I120 Geographic Labor Mobility Immigrant Workers J610 Economic Development: Human Resources Human Development Income Distribution Migration O150 |
| spellingShingle |
International Migration F220 Health Production I120 Geographic Labor Mobility Immigrant Workers J610 Economic Development: Human Resources Human Development Income Distribution Migration O150 Stillman, Steven McKenzie, David Gibson, John Migration and Mental Health: Evidence from a Natural Experiment |
| geographic_facet |
New Zealand |
| relation |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo |
| description |
People migrate to improve their well-being. Yet a large literature suggests that migration can be a stressful process, with potentially negative impacts on mental health. However, to truly understand the effect of migration one must compare the mental health of migrants to what their mental health would be had they stayed in their home country. The existing literature is not able to do this. New Zealand allows a quota of Tongans to immigrate each year with a random ballot used to choose amongst the excess number of applicants. Experimental estimates of the mental health effects of migration are obtained by comparing the mental health of migrants who were successful applicants in the random ballot to the mental health of those who applied to migrate under the quota, but whose names were not drawn. Migration is found to lead to improvements in mental health, particularly for women and those with poor mental health. |
| format |
Journal Article |
| author |
Stillman, Steven McKenzie, David Gibson, John |
| author_facet |
Stillman, Steven McKenzie, David Gibson, John |
| author_sort |
Stillman, Steven |
| title |
Migration and Mental Health: Evidence from a Natural Experiment |
| title_short |
Migration and Mental Health: Evidence from a Natural Experiment |
| title_full |
Migration and Mental Health: Evidence from a Natural Experiment |
| title_fullStr |
Migration and Mental Health: Evidence from a Natural Experiment |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Migration and Mental Health: Evidence from a Natural Experiment |
| title_sort |
migration and mental health: evidence from a natural experiment |
| publishDate |
2012 |
| url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4963 |
| _version_ |
1764393413115904000 |