Validating Migration Responses to Flooding Using Satellite and Vital Registration Data
American Economic Review
vol. 107,
no. 5, May 2017
(pp. 441-45)
Abstract
Rainfall measures may be imperfect proxies for floods, given factors such as upstream water balance, proximity to rivers, and topography. We check the robustness of flooding-migration relationships by combining nationally-representative survey data with measures of flooding derived from weather stations, gridded products, and remote sensing tools. Linear probability models reveal that extreme flooding is negatively associated with out-migration. Rainfall-based proxies produce results qualitatively similar to those using the satellite-based measure of inundation, but only the latter is able to discern non-monotonic effects throughout the distribution. Moreover, estimates differ widely across areas, suggesting that households respond differently to rainfall and flooding.Citation
Chen, Joyce J., Valerie Mueller, Yuanyuan Jia, and Steven Kuo-Hsin Tseng. 2017. "Validating Migration Responses to Flooding Using Satellite and Vital Registration Data." American Economic Review, 107 (5): 441-45. DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20171052Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
- J11 Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
- O13 Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products
- O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
- Q54 Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming