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School of Environment and Natural Resources

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SENR Seminar Series - Temporary Migration in Response to Environmental Shocks: Assessing the Need for High Frequency Data

The SENR Seminar Series welcomes Associate Professor Joyce Chen, The Ohio State University, Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, who will present "Temporary Migration in Response to Environmental Shocks: Assessing the Need for High Frequency Data" on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019 in Kottman Hall 103 at 4:10 p.m.

Abstract

With climate change, we are seeing increased weather variability, higher frequency of hazards, and emerging environmental risks such as desertification and saline contamination. Evidence of adaptation through permanent migration has been mixed, but relatively little is known about short-term moves. Temporary migration affords households greater opportunity to adapt in place, but may also exacerbate seasonal fluctuations in destination areas. We utilize a unique high frequency (bi-monthly) survey conducted in Bangladesh and find that temporary migration is responsive to rainfall shocks and flooding; however, we are unable to detect this response using longer term recall data. Thus, when high frequency data collection is not feasible, surveys should seek to elicit information on the timing of migration episodes.