Do Remittances Mitigate the Impact of Climate Change on Migration? Evidence from Mexico

This letter investigates the effect of remittances on the migration response to climatic shocks. Using state-level data on Mexico-US migration between 2003 and 2017, we conduct dynamic system-GMM estimations in order to address the potential endogeneity of remittances. Our findings suggest that remittances mitigate the impact of natural disasters on migration. However, we observe negative effects of climatic anomalies on migration, which are not moderated by remittances. Thus, it appears that remittances serve as an informal insurance strategy but may not facilitate long-term adaptation to climate change