Is Corruption the Driving Force of Migration from Croatia: Evidence from a Survey

Migration of higher-educated individuals from Croatia is damaging the long-term perspective of the Croatian economy as lower levels of the participation rate in the Croatian economy may endanger the feasibility of the social, healthcare and pension systems. With Croatia’s accession to the EU, a wave of migration was facilitated as a result of easier access to foreign labour markets. The paper focuses on the causes of migration from Croatia given the relatively limited research devoted to this topic. While there is robust evidence of corruption being one of the main causes of migration globally, this paper questions this assertion specifically in the case of Croatia. The paper analyses information from a survey with a random sampling approach of 223 respondents from the Varaždin County. The data is analysed by implementing different logit regression models. The paper conceptualizes economic and political factors that may cause migration as different variables in order to conduct a robustness check. The main finding of the paper is that monetary causes and a belief that individuals could earn more income abroad are the primary motivator of migration from Croatia. This is contrary to much of the existing literature that identifies corruption as the driving force of migration. Knowing individuals who have migrated abroad also makes it more likely for an individual to migrate from Croatia. While the paper found a significant degree of lacking faith in public institutions, this was common to participants regardless of whether or not they considered migrating from Croatia. As such, the paper considers monetary conditions rather than corruption to be the key driving force behind migration from Croatia.