Long-term effects of weather-induced migration on urban labor and housing markets

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Urban Economics
Year: 2025
Volume: 146
Issue: C

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

2.018 = (α=2.02 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper explores the effects of weather-induced rural–urban migration on labor and housing market outcomes of urban residents in Brazil. In order to identify causal effects, it uses weather shocks to the rural municipalities of origin of migrants. We show that larger migration shocks led to an increase in employment growth and a reduction in wage growth of 4 and 5 percent, respectively. The increased migration flows also affected the housing market in destination cities. On average, it led to 4 percent faster growth of the housing stock, accompanied by 6 percent faster growth in housing rents. These effects vary sharply by housing quality. We find a substantial positive effect on the growth rates of the most penurious housing units (with no effect on rents) and a negative effect on the growth of housing units in the next quality tier (with a positive effect on rents). This suggests that rural immigration growth slowed down housing-quality upgrading in destination cities.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:juecon:v:146:y:2025:i:c:s009411902500004x
Journal Field
Urban/Geographic
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25