4:00-5:30 pm on Wednesday, Oct 31st, 2012
608 Academic Hall, CUFE
Abstract
Using panel datasets of Indonesia, I examine how natural disasters affect household migration. Specifically, the study analyzes the effects of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and floods on household tendency to migrate. Contrary to conventional wisdom, I find that all three kinds of disasters significantly reduce migration rates. Nevertheless, the channels of impact are quite different. Earthquakes reduce earnings and non-business assets, each of which tends to reduce migration rates. Volcanic eruptions on the other hand raise the value of farmland, which, in turn, induce households to stay. Floods have no significant impacts on household assets or earnings, which can be the results from attenuation bias due to measurement errors .