Full Library

In this paper, we add to the literature on the driving forces of international migration out of Africa. We particularly focus on the direct effect of climate variables: temperature, rainfall, and weather-related disaster. We revisit the question whether climate is a driver or inhibitor of migration using migration flows out of all African countries from 1980 to 2015 into 16 OECD countries. Our findings show that climate can be a driver and an inhibitor of migration depending on the size of the temperature shock. We show that temperature has non-linear effects on migration. We observe a U-shaped relationship for temperature at destination and an inverted U-shaped relationship at origin. We also find that the agricultural pathway does quantitatively matter: countries relying more heavily on agriculture experience larger migration flows. Finally, weather-related disaster also have a significant effect on international migration.

openalex: W2999804001 mag: 2999804001