Abstract:
Do natural disasters trigger intensified international migration? The aim of this paper is to assess the extent to which disasters initiate bilateral migration. To motivate the empirical strategy, I construct a stylized theoretical gravity model of migration that introduces disasters as random shocks. I present estimations that deploy a dataset of bilateral migration available for increments of 10 years from 1960-2010 for a large matrix of countries. Results suggest that disasters are on average positively associated with migration out of affected areas, but negatively for migration into affected countries. In addition, I show that results are primarily caused by disasters related to climate change. Migration to and from non-OECD and particularly middle income countries drive the patterns.