Research Information System
64th European Regional Science Association (ERSA) Congress (ERSA2025), Athens, Greece, 26 - 29 August 2025, pp.626, (Summary Text)
The return migration-development nexus has been approached by optimistic and pessimistic theories and the dominant approach has changed in time. Although academic interest on return migration has been increasing in the last two decades and return migration makes up a high proportion of total migration flows in the world, the share of studies focusing on the impact of return migration on countries of origin is low and most of them are based on small-scale surveys or qualitative data. This study aims to contribute to the literature by analyzing the impact of return of Turkish migrants from Austria and the Netherlands on provincial development in Türkiye. To estimate return migration from Austria and the Netherlands, NUTS3 (province)-level stock data retrieved from Turkish Statistical Institution (TURKSTAT) is used. Other data from TURKSTAT, OECD and Eurostat on wellbeing indicators at the province level are used to construct a wellbeing index. The time frame used in the study is the 7-year period between 2015 and 2021. We use a Generalized Least Squares (GLS) estimation accounting for autocorrelation and heteroskedasticity, where the dependent variable is Well-Being Index (WBI), and its economic, environmental and health-related dimensions, separately, and our variable of interest is the share of return migrants in time-lagged form. Our preliminary findings derived from GLS estimations suggest that return migrants from Austria and the Netherlands have a positive and statistically significant impact on provincial well-being in Türkiye. This result remains consistent when the models are estimated separately for first-generation return migrants and descendants. Regarding the economic dimension, total return migration also exhibits a positive effect; however, this effect is primarily driven by the migration of descendants in Türkiye—individuals born in Austria or the Netherlands who hold Turkish citizenship. Conversely, migratory movements do not appear to be associated with the environmental dimension, as indicated by heat stress levels. Nevertheless, return migration from Austria and the Netherlands contributes to improvements in the health dimension.