Taken by Storm: Hurricanes, Migrant Networks, and U.S. Immigration

Parag Mahajan and Dean Yang

Working Papers from U.S. Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies

Abstract: How readily do potential migrants respond to increased returns to migration? Even if origin areas become less attractive vis-à-vis migration destinations, fixed costs can prevent increased migration. We examine migration responses to hurricanes, which reduce the attractiveness of origin locations. Restricted-access U.S. Census data allows precise migration measures and analysis of more migrant-origin countries. Hurricanes increase U.S. immigration, with the effect increasing in the size of prior migrant stocks. Large migrant networks reduce fixed costs by facilitating legal immigration from hurricane-affected source countries. Hurricane-induced immigration can be fully accounted for by new legal permanent residents (“green card” holders).

Keywords: Immigration; migrant networks; returns to migration; natural disasters; hurricanes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 O15 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 59 pages
Date: 2017-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env, nep-int, nep-mig, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2017/CES-WP-17-50.pdf First version, 2017 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Taken by Storm: Hurricanes, Migrant Networks, and US Immigration (2020)
Working Paper: Taken by Storm: Hurricanes, Migrant Networks, and U.S. Immigration (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cen:wpaper:17-50

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