Validating Migration Responses to Flooding Using Satellite and Vital Registration Data
Joyce J. Chen, Valerie Mueller, Yuanyuan Jia, Steven Kuo-Hsin Tseng
American Economic Review · 2017 · Volume 107 · Issue 5
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.
Keywords
Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis, Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts, Economic Development: Agriculture, Natural Resources, Energy, Environment, Other Primary Products, Economic Development: Human Resources, Human Development, Income Distribution, Migration, Climate, Natural Disasters and Their Management, Global Warming
Enable JavaScript for citation tools and additional paper interactions.