Non-pecuniary Effects of Migration Inflows to Ecuador: Is Residents’ Life Satisfaction Affected?

Abstract

The migration phenomenon has important implications in both the receiving and sending countries. Regarding developing countries, much less attention has been devoted to their role as receiving countries. This study focuses on Ecuador, a developing country whose migration inflows have significantly increased since its economy formally dollarized. The aim is to know how residents’ perceived life satisfaction is affected by international migration not only at an aggregated level but also at a disaggregated level (by gender, occupation, and nationality). To do so, a multiple-choice econometric model, a generalized ordinal logit, is estimated using pooled data from 2014 to 2015. Results evidence that the effect of international migration on life satisfaction is not linear: it depends on the individuals’ life satisfaction level. Moreover, results evidence that immigrants’ gender, nationality, and occupation matter when studying residents’ perceived life satisfaction. An increase in the share of male migrants is associated with low levels of life satisfaction of residents. While the increase of the share of some nationalities is associated with lower levels of life satisfaction, the increase of others is associated with higher or intermediate levels of life satisfaction. Interestingly, an increase in the share of working immigrants is not associated with low levels of life satisfaction of locals.