Full Citation

Title: Migrant selection and sorting during the Great American Drought

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2024

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106632

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: America’s worst drought spanned the 1930s, coinciding with the most extensive environmental migration in United States history. Nearly 100 years later, we know little about who moved and who stayed. This paper studies heterogeneity in migration from drought by relating migration decisions recorded in the 1940 census to county drought conditions. Drought increased migration primarily for individuals with a 12th-grade education or higher. Drought migrants, both women and men, left rural and urban locations and most often relocated to rural destinations. These findings highlight the importance of individual-level characteristics for adaptation to climate shocks, challenge the perception that rural-to-urban is the dominant environmental migrant channel, and document the central importance of drought for internal migration during the 1930s.

Url: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305750X24001025

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Sichko, Christopher

Periodical (Full): World Development

Issue:

Volume: 181

Pages: 1-15

Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS USA - Ancestry Full Count Data, IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Land Use/Urban Organization, Migration and Immigration

Countries: