Consumption needs and Quality of Life: Austrian Economics and the causes of migration

Abstract

This paper re-introduces the view on migration causes by the Austrian School of Economics. Austrian economics has not earned its fame in the field of migration, but rather on advocating libertarian economics. Nonetheless Mises outlined a migration model, which can be understood by adding some clarifications by Hayek. Given that the institutional barriers to migration raised by the state are removed, the interplay between market wages, standard wages, attachment component and cost component will determine the migration. While the attachment component relates to fundamental freedoms and to what is referred to as quality-of-life aspects today, the cost component relates to subjective consumption needs. Hitherto unexplored, this model offers new insights to the complex interplay between economic and sociological aspects determining migration drivers.