Dissatisfied, feeling unequal and inclined to emigrate: Perceptions from Macedonia in a MIMIC model

Abstract

Macedonia has a large diaspora, a high emigration rate and receives larger volume of remittances. This paper aims to describe the current inclination to emigrate from Macedonia, in the light of the dissatisfaction with the domestic political and economic environment and the potential feeling of gender and ethnic inequalities. Particular reference is made to the role of remittances. We use the Remittances Survey 2008 and treat dissatisfaction, feeling of inequality and inclination to emigrate as latent continuous variables in a MIMIC (Multiple-Indicator Multiple-Cause) model, observed only imperfectly in terms of respondents’ perceptions and opinions. Results suggest that dissatisfaction with the societal conditions in Macedonia grows among those who are at their 20s and early 30s, which is more prevalent among ethnic Albanians. Compared to others, Albanians also demonstrate stronger feeling of gender and ethnic inequality. Dissatisfaction, but not the feeling of inequality, then feeds inclination to emigrate. Further to this, however, males and less educated persons are more inclined to emigrate, irrespective of their level of dissatisfaction. We find remittances to play a strong role for the inclination to emigrate: the inclination is larger in households receiving remittances and increases with the amount received, as it is likely that remittances alleviate financial constraints for other persons of the household to emigrate.

Remittances as a Shield to Vulnerable Households in Macedonia: The Case When the Instrument is Not Strictly Exogenous

“…Bornarova and Janeska (, p.45) suggest that the share of ethnic Albanians in the total diaspora of Macedonia may have increased over time. This resonates with the finding of Petreski and Petreski () that ethnic Albanians have a greater inclination to emigrate because they become dissatisfied with the political and economic environment in Macedonia, although not with the gender and/or ethnic inequalities. Corresponding to these trends, the amounts of remittances received by ethnic Albanians are larger, especially for the poorest households (Petreski and Jovanovic, eds.…”

“…The literature on the development effects of remittances in the Western Balkan countries, including Macedonia, is scarce but emerging. Petreski and Jovanovic (); Petreski and Mojsoska‐Blazevski (); Petreski and Petreski (); Dietz () document prevalent positive roles of remittances for various facets of the development in Macedonia; Narazani (); Dermendzieva (); Braga (); Kule et al. () in Albania; Vladisavljevic et al.…”

Return migration and health outcomes in North Macedonia

“…An interesting fact is the educational differences. Absent migrants are predominantly with primary school (resonating with findings in Petreski and Petreski (2015), who profile the average emigrant from North Macedonia as being less educated contrary to the beliefs that emigration is usually a brain drain). On the other hand, return migrants’ educational profile more resembles the composition of the entire sample, but could also reflect some efforts to acquire additional education while abroad.…”

“…The first challenge stems from the fact that not everybody has an equal probability to emigrate (as well to return). Middle-age, male and mid-educated (Petreski and Petreski, 2015) have a higher propensity to emigrate. In econometric terms, some individuals may self-select to emigrate.…”

The willingness to emigrate in six MENA countries: The role of post‐revolutionary stress

“…Post-revolutionary factors and political factors Popova and Otrachshenko (2011) conduct a two-level hierarchal econometric model to determine whether life dissatisfaction influences migration decisions in Central and Eastern Europe, finding a positive correlation. Petreski and Petreski (2015) examine the role of dissatisfaction with political and economic environments in the country of origin in shaping emigration decisions. They conduct their analysis using a dataset from Macedonia, finding that such dissatisfactions increase the likelihood of emigration.…”