Data for: A Real-Options Analysis of Climate Change and International Migration

The potential impact of climate change on international migration patterns has recently received considerable attention, yet much of the empirical literature fails to find increases in international migration due to climate change. This paper attempts to resolve this ``immobility paradox'' by applying a real-options framework to the relationship between climate change and international migration. This framework suggests that individuals may postpone their migration response to climate change in the face of uncertainty and only migrate once impacts of climate change have exceeded certain thresholds. We test this prediction using semiparametric regression methods which allow us to empirically identify the threshold effects implied by the real-options framework. However, the findings are generally inconsistent with such threshold effects. Rather, the results suggest that in low-income countries, individuals' migration response is hampered by the existence of liquidity constraints. These are likely to become more binding due to climate change-induced decreases in agricultural productivity.

Drawing on the migration flow database compiled by Abel and Sander (2014), this dataset contains information on bilateral rates of migration from 138 non-OECD countries for the period 1990 to 2010. In addition, information on temperature and precipitation anomalies based on version 4.05 of the gridded climate dataset created by the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia is included (Harris et al. 2020). Finally, the dataset includes data on origin countries' GDP per capita as well as agricultural value added as a share of GDP, which were obtained from the World Development Indicators (World Bank 2021).