Climate Change and Educational Attainment: The Role of Human Mobility

Christoph Deuster ()

Journal of Development Studies, 2021, vol. 57, issue 9, 1527-1548

Abstract: This paper investigates the potential links between climate change, human capital formation, and internal migration in Africa. In order to do so, a two-sector, world economy model that endogenises education and mobility decisions is developed. This stylised model predicts that negative climatic conditions increase the proportion of people moving internally from rural to urban areas. This in turn leads to a larger share of individuals investing in tertiary education, because the access and returns to education are higher in urban areas. These theoretical predictions are empirically validated by a panel data analysis at the country level and a cross-sectional data analysis at the province level. The empirical validation reveals indirect causality between climate change and education via the moderating variable of internal migration. The research leads to the conclusion that adverse weather changes may have the unexpected effect of increasing educational attainment in African economies. The findings suggest that greater internal mobility can explain this effect.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2021.1898592

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