Abstract
The panacea proposed for Jakarta’s environmental deterioration involves relocating the capital to a new city to be built in East Kalimantan. Despite garnering parliamentary support, a survey revealed great reluctance of citizens to move to the new capital. This resistance of urban migration is growing globally. To facilitate policymakers in constructing an urban environment conducive to improving migrant well-being, this paper focuses on understanding the impact of urban migration decisions on household well-being outcomes by studying Indonesian Family Life Survey data. The analysis extends existing literature by stratifying between rural-originating and urban-originating households and employing triple-difference estimation to evaluate the impact on objective and subjective well-being. Adopting the triple-difference method exposes the negative impact of urban migration on well-being, which the commonly adopted difference-in-difference estimation underestimates. This is argued to be due to unmet rising expectations of migrants resulting from labour market stickiness, futile attempts at enterprise, high urban living costs, and social repercussions.
Evidence for practice
Keywords: Urban migration, well-being, difference-in-difference, triple-difference
Citation: Putri, G. (2023). Pain of migration. Insights into the impact of urban migration on the broad well-being outcomes of the households. Public Note, 10(2), 32-38.
The panacea proposed for Jakarta’s environmental deterioration involves relocating the capital to a new city to be built in East Kalimantan. Despite garnering parliamentary support, a survey revealed great reluctance of citizens to move to the new capital. This resistance of urban migration is growing globally. To facilitate policymakers in constructing an urban environment conducive to improving migrant well-being, this paper focuses on understanding the impact of urban migration decisions on household well-being outcomes by studying Indonesian Family Life Survey data. The analysis extends existing literature by stratifying between rural-originating and urban-originating households and employing triple-difference estimation to evaluate the impact on objective and subjective well-being. Adopting the triple-difference method exposes the negative impact of urban migration on well-being, which the commonly adopted difference-in-difference estimation underestimates. This is argued to be due to unmet rising expectations of migrants resulting from labour market stickiness, futile attempts at enterprise, high urban living costs, and social repercussions.
Evidence for practice
- This paper calls to attention the vast disparity between areas within Indonesia such that households decide to migrate in the first place. Although the country has been making substantial improvements in both urban services and infrastructure in numerous towns, it is unclear whether these facilities are providing the level of quality migrants are expecting.
- The findings of this study expose the urgency of investigating Indonesia’s assistance in the processes of urban migration. By streamlining the process and communicating it more effectively, households will have a much better understanding of the costs and rewards of migration. Additionally, effective social safety nets, consisting of both public assistance and market insurance, would reduce dependence on social networks.
- However, the best means to help migrants is to ease their integration. Offering housing assistance in the form of rent subsidies, pre-migration matching to a job, help with childcare arrangements, and schemes generating a general feeling of welcomeness would enable the migrant to quickly feel more at home in their new community.
Keywords: Urban migration, well-being, difference-in-difference, triple-difference
Citation: Putri, G. (2023). Pain of migration. Insights into the impact of urban migration on the broad well-being outcomes of the households. Public Note, 10(2), 32-38.

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