Migrant-family background and subjective well-being: Evidence using Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition

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 lowerthan thelatter group. Blinder-Oaxaca decompositionfinds that thegap in their subjective well-being is not explainedby differences in socioeconomic profile and socialcontext.Rather thegap ismainly due tothe unexplained componentof theanalysis, which the paperinterpretsintwoways.First,theunexplainedcomponentrepresentsthelatent social biases against individualswithmigrant heritage.Second,the unexplained component also represents the overall effect ofpersonality, attitude, and migrant culture on the subjective well-being of individuals with migrant heritage.