Cumulative Climate Shocks and Migratory Flows: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

Arbeitspapier

We re-examine the effects of negative weather anomalies during the growing season on the decision to migrate in rural households in five sub-Saharan African countries. To this end we combine a multi-country household panel dataset with high-resolution gridded precipitation data. We find that while the effect of recent adverse weather shocks is on average modest, the cumulative effect of a persistent exposure to droughts over several years leads to a significant increase in the probability to migrate. The results show that more frequent adverse shocks can have more significant and long-lasting consequences in challenging economic environments.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 15084

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration ; Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products ; Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming
• Subject: climate shocks ; rural-urban migration ; economic development

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Di Falco, Salvatore ; Kis, Anna B. ; Viarengo, Martina
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/252208
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET