[New Zealand] Migration and mental health : evidence from a natural experiment / World Bank, 16 February 2007
http://digbig.com/4rqcf
Stillman, Steven; McKenzie, David; Gibson, John
Policy, Research working paper ; no. WPS 4138
"People migrate to improve their well-being, whether through an expansion of economic and social opportunities or a reduction in persecution. Yet a large literature suggests that migration can be a stressful process, with potentially negative impacts on mental health, reducing the net benefits of migration. To truly understand the effect of migration on mental health one must compare the mental health of migrants to what their mental health would have been had they stayed in their home country. This paper examines a migrant lottery program. New Zealand allows a quota of Tongans to immigrate each year with a lottery used to choose among the excess number of applicants. Migration is found to lead to improvements in mental health, particularly for women and those with poor mental health in their home country."