Migrant-Family Background and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence Using Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-7-2018

Abstract

The paper examines the subjective well-being of individuals with migrant-family background and individuals with no migrant-family background. The subjective well-being of the former group is on average lower than the latter group. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition finds that the gap in their subjective well-being is not explained by differences in socioeconomic profile and social context. Rather the gap is mainly due to the unexplained component of the analysis, which the paper interprets in two ways. First, the unexplained component represents the latent social biases against individuals with migrant heritage. Second, the unexplained component also represents the overall effect of personality, attitude, and migrant culture on the subjective well-being of individuals with migrant heritage.

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