It’s Not All about the Economy Stupid! Immigration and Subjective Well-Being in England

Peter Howley; Muhammad Waqas; Mirko Moro; Liam Delaney; Tony Heron

doi:10.1177/0950017019866643

It’s Not All about the Economy Stupid! Immigration and Subjective Well-Being in England

Peter Howley^*, Muhammad Waqas, Mirko Moro, Liam Delaney, Tony Heron

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

While much is known regarding the effects of immigration for objective outcomes, relatively little is known regarding the effects for perceived well-being. By exploiting spatial and temporal variation in the net-inflows of foreign-born individuals across local areas in England, we examine the relationship between immigration and natives’ subjective well-being as captured by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). We find small negative effects overall but that an analysis of the main effects masks significant differences across subgroups, with relatively older individuals, those with below-average household incomes, the unemployed and finally those without any formal educational qualifications experiencing much more substantive well-being losses than others. These observed well-being differentials are congruent with voting patterns evident in the recent UK referendum on EU membership. We put forward perceived as opposed to actual labour market competition and social identity as two potential explanations for the negative well-being impacts of immigration for natives.

Original language	English
Journal	Work, Employment and Society
Early online date	6 Sept 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017019866643
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 6 Sept 2019

Keywords

immigration
mental health
social identity
subjective well-being

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10.1177/0950017019866643

Cite this

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abstract = "While much is known regarding the effects of immigration for objective outcomes, relatively little is known regarding the effects for perceived well-being. By exploiting spatial and temporal variation in the net-inflows of foreign-born individuals across local areas in England, we examine the relationship between immigration and natives{\textquoteright} subjective well-being as captured by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). We find small negative effects overall but that an analysis of the main effects masks significant differences across subgroups, with relatively older individuals, those with below-average household incomes, the unemployed and finally those without any formal educational qualifications experiencing much more substantive well-being losses than others. These observed well-being differentials are congruent with voting patterns evident in the recent UK referendum on EU membership. We put forward perceived as opposed to actual labour market competition and social identity as two potential explanations for the negative well-being impacts of immigration for natives.",

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AU - Delaney, Liam

AU - Heron, Tony

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It’s Not All about the Economy Stupid! Immigration and Subjective Well-Being in England

Abstract

Keywords

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