Replication Data for: Circular Migration and the Moderation of Social Attitudes

Migration creates opportunities for transferring not just wealth but also norms, attitudes, and behaviors from migrant-receiving to migrant-sending countries. While prior research suggests that these “social remittances” reflect the societal characteristics of the host society, I argue that the attitudes migrants adopt and subsequently remit reflect their unique experiences as migrants. I draw on an original survey of 1,680 Indonesians, which includes prospective, returned, and non-migrants to analyse the effects of migration on attitudes. Focusing on attitudes about religion, gender, and society, I find that Indonesians who are more socially conservative and patriarchal self-select into wanting to emigrate. Upon their return, migrants’ attitudes have moderated to the point that they are not significantly different from non-migrants on these issues. Importantly, these results hold regardless of whether the host country was more or less liberal than Indonesia, suggesting that they are influenced by a common experience as migrants rather than by host country characteristics.