The Pursuit of Happiness? Subjective Wellbeing and Internal Migration in Great Britain

In 2011 the UK government announced future plans to use subjective wellbeing as a measure of economic success. Understanding both the individual and geographic determinants of subjective wellbeing is important for future policy makers. Internal migration has important impacts on the geographic composition of populations, and if found to impact on individual wellbeing; could have significant effects on geographical variations in wellbeing. The effect of internal migration on individuals has largely been focussed in the labour literature, assessing employment and earnings changes with migration. This paper is the first study to assess the effects of internal migration on subjective wellbeing in Great Britain. We use nationally representative data from the first eighteen waves (1991-2008) of the British Household Panel Survey. The panel structure of the data is ideal for migration analysis, and the data contains a wide range of personal, labour market, and health characteristics of respondents. Migration is measured as movements in residence of 10km or more. Wellbeing is measured as a binary indicator for poor wellbeing, ‘caseness', using the 12-point version of the General Health Questionnaire with scores of three or more used as indicators for poor subjective wellbeing. The effects of migration on the probability of caseness are measured in the year following a move. Migrants are modelled by motive for moving, and past caseness state. The methodology controls for the potential endogeneity of the migration decision and potential correlation between unobserved heterogeneity and the covariates. The results suggest the effects of migration do not differ by motive, but do differ by past health status. Internal migration could have important impacts on geographic inequalities in wellbeing