Date
7-21-2026
Department
Helms School of Government
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Public Policy (PhD)
Chair
William Wilson
Keywords
new economics of labor migration, migration theory, well-being, WOOP, remittances, capability, material outcomes, left-behind elderly parents, Guatemala
Disciplines
Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
Recommended Citation
Lawson, Dawn Marie, "Well-Being and the New Economics of Labor Migration Theory: A Study of Elderly Left-Behind Parents in Guatemala" (2026). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 8685.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/8685
Abstract
This quantitative study tested whether multidimensional self-assessed well-being constitutes a suitable dimension for extending the New Economics of Labor Migration (NELM) framework. Specifically, the study examined the association between perceived migration-related material outcomes, namely consumption of market goods, savings, property holding, and business ownership or expansion, and self-assessed well-being among left-behind elderly parents in Guatemala. Well-being was operationalized using the Well-Being of Older People instrument (WOOP), a measure that the study established as culturally relevant to the sample. Given the ordinal levels of measurement used to capture the variables, the study used nonparametric statistical methods, viz., Kendall’s tau-b, Spearman’s rho, and Mann-Whitney U, for inferential analyses. The study found that the WOOP, a multidimensional self-assessed well-being construct, is an effective framework for expanding the NELM. It highlights differentiated outcomes, the role of intervening variables, and suggests an expansion of risks beyond current households. Perceived migration-related improvements did not consistently correspond with improvements in well-being, a finding that indirectly challenges the use of remittance flows in development models. Business ownership or expansion had the most positive associations with the well-being domains. This study contributes to migration theory by locating multidimensional self-assessed well-being as a micro-level analytical domain. The study calls for a policy framework that facilitates the identification and development of social infrastructure to improve the conversion of material gains into welfare status. Policy should include a role for the diaspora and the development of the longevity economy.
