To Go or Not to Go: Migration Alleviates Climate Damages Even for Those Who Stay Behind

18 Pages Posted: 19 Dec 2017

See all articles by Soheil Shayegh

Soheil Shayegh

CMCC - Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici; RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economy and the Environment (EIEE)

Gregory P. Casey

Hamilton College - Economics Department

Date Written: December 18, 2017

Abstract

We examine the effect of climate change on fertility rates and human capital accumulation in developing countries, focusing on the instrumental role of migration. In particular, we investigate how climate-induced migration in developing countries will affect those who do not migrate. Holding all else constant, climate shocks raise the return to acquiring skills, because skilled individuals compared to unskilled ones have greater opportunity to migrate after the shock. In response to this change in incentives, parents choose to invest more in education and have less children, a process known as the ‘quantity-quality’ trade-off. These effects partially offset the damages of climate change, even for those who do not migrate.

Keywords: Migration, Climate Change, Fertility, Population, Wage, Quantity-quality Tradeoff

JEL Classification: F22

Suggested Citation

Shayegh, Soheil and Casey, Gregory P., To Go or Not to Go: Migration Alleviates Climate Damages Even for Those Who Stay Behind (December 18, 2017). FEEM Working Paper No. 55.2017, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3089671 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3089671

Soheil Shayegh (Contact Author)

CMCC - Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici ( email )

Via Bergognone, 34
Milano, 20144
Italy

RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economy and the Environment (EIEE) ( email )

Via Bergognone, 34
Milan
Italy

Gregory P. Casey

Hamilton College - Economics Department ( email )

198 College Hill Road
Clinton, NY 13323
United States

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