As climate change increases global temperatures, warmer waters allow for storms to strengthen more quickly and reach higher categories on the cyclone wind speed scale. These cyclones cause widespread destruction and disrupt local economic activity. The Philippines is no stranger to such tropical cyclones and has been declared as the “most exposed country in the world to tropical storms” by Time in 2013.

Working together with multiple partners and stakeholders in the Philippines, we are building upon the data collection efforts used in my Job Market paper to build a novel dataset that allows us to study the impact of these tropical storms on the welfare of households and educational outcomes of children in these households. Within the scope of migration, there are two potential adaptation mechanisms that households can undertake in order to adapt to climate change as tropical cyclones become more frequent and more destructive. The first is related to temporary international labor migration, whereby the household may have a migrant who is already working abroad prior to the occurrence of a given tropical cyclone. In this scenario, migration acts as a form of insurance to household income because household income is more diversified. The migrant’s income should not be affected by the local economic disruption caused by a tropical cyclone event at home. The second is related to permanent domestic migration, whereby the household may move from geographic locations within the Philippines that are more exposed to cyclones to areas that are relatively less exposed.

Location: Philippines

Partners/Stakeholders:

• International Labor Organization

• UNICEF

• Innovations for Poverty Action

• Philippines Department of Education

• Philippines Department of Migrant Workers

• Overseas Workers Welfare Administration

• Philippines Overseas Employment Administration

• Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation

Funding:

• Multi-Partner Trust Fund for Migration

• ILO-UN Women BRIDGE project

• Economic Growth Center

Principal Investigators:

• Siu Yuat Wong (Yale)

• Qian Yao Ye (Yale)

Research:

• Working Paper: “Cyclones, Migration, and Adaptation to Climate Change“, with

  Winston Hovekamp

• Work in Progress: “Adapting to Climate Change with Migration: Tropical Cyclones and Human Capital Accumulation“, with Qianyao Ye