Immigration policy and well-being of female foreign spouses: a case study of the effect of granting a work permit
by Pei-An Liao; Lin Lin; Hung-Hao Chang
International Journal of Happiness and Development (IJHD), Vol. 8, No. 1, 2023

Abstract: Immigration policies have been revised to improve immigrants' well-being in many countries. However, not much is known about how the policy reform affects female immigrant spouses' well-being. Exploiting an immigration policy reform in Taiwan, this study quantifies the effect of the reform on Mainland Chinese wives' happiness and income. Using a two-year population-based survey of the foreign wives in Taiwan before and after the policy reform and the difference-in-differences approach, we find that the policy reform increases Mainland Chinese wives' household income by 10.1% and their likelihood of being happy by 3.6%. With respect to the potential mechanism behind the policy's effect, we suggest that the potential driver could be increased employment opportunities in white-collar jobs for Mainland Chinese wives.

Online publication date: Fri, 16-Jun-2023

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