Post-2008 Spanish migration to Argentina: Just 'weathering the storm'?

Following the 2008 economic crisis, many Spaniards left their country in search of jobs and opportunities abroad. By 2014, of the more than two million Spaniards living abroad, the majority of those outside the European Union and the United States of America – 400,000 of them – were living in Argentina. By focusing on testimonies published in Argentine and Spanish newspapers and complementing them with an analysis of selected life histories, this article explores whether those migrating from Spain to Argentina were in search of a new home or, rather, of a temporary solution while 'weathering the storm'. The article argues that the answer is to be found beyond economic factors and shows how these migrants' decisions and experiences were also strongly shaped by non-economic factors, especially the social networks that had developed out of previous migration waves between Spain and Argentina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]