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To Leave or Not to Leave? Climate Change, Exit, and Voice on a Pacific Island

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  • Ilan Noy

Abstract

Observers predict that climate change will lead to massive migrations. Yet, most of the empirical micro- and macro-research on the link between climate change and migration fails to find much evidence of this migration happening. We focus on Tuvalu, a small South Pacific atoll nation that can serve as the canary in the mine for climate change research. If migration driven by climate change is not happening, Tuvalu may explain why. One plausible reason is the desire by Tuvaluans to Voice. ‘Voicing’, a concept we borrow from Hirschman’s Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, is the advocacy of expressing wish for change. We argue that Tuvaluans have decided that their preferred policy is to stay and Voice. This present choice to Voice may explain why the evidence on climate-induced migration is so fragile. Tuvalu may be using Voice to attempt to avert dire outcomes, or to strengthen its bargaining position for the discussions about compensation. The risk may be that the equilibrium choice between Voice and Exit is unstable and that the transition from one strategy to the other may be abrupt—in response to a catastrophic disaster. Advance planning and funding for climate-induced migration are therefore necessary through the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage.

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  • Ilan Noy, 2017. "To Leave or Not to Leave? Climate Change, Exit, and Voice on a Pacific Island," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 63(4), pages 403-420.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cesifo:v:63:y:2017:i:4:p:403-420.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cesifo/ifx004
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    Cited by:

    1. Michel Beine & Christopher R Parsons, 2017. "Climatic Factors as Determinants of International Migration: Redux," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 63(4), pages 386-402.
    2. Beine, Michel & Jeusette, Lionel, 2021. "A meta-analysis of the literature on climate change and migration," Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 87(3), pages 293-344, September.
    3. Dennis Wesselbaum, 2023. "Climate migration in Asia," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Tauisi Taupo & Harold Cuffe & Ilan Noy, 2018. "Household vulnerability on the frontline of climate change: the Pacific atoll nation of Tuvalu," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 20(4), pages 705-739, October.
    5. Michael Brottrager & Jesus Crespo Cuaresma & Dominic Kniveton & Saleem H. Ali, 2023. "Natural resources modulate the nexus between environmental shocks and human mobility," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    6. Michel Beine & Ilan Noy & Christopher Parsons, 2021. "Climate change, migration and voice," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 1-27, July.
    7. Beine, Michel & Noy, Ilan & Parsons, Christopher, 2019. "Climate Change, Migration and Voice: An Explanation for the Immobility Paradox," IZA Discussion Papers 12640, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Cassin, Lesly & Melindi-Ghidi, Paolo & Prieur, Fabien, 2022. "Confronting climate change: Adaptation vs. migration in Small Island Developing States," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    9. Michael Berlemann & Max Friedrich Steinhardt, 2017. "Climate Change, Natural Disasters, and Migration—a Survey of the Empirical Evidence," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 63(4), pages 353-385.
    10. Esteban J. Quiñones & Sabine Liebenehm & Rasadhika Sharma, "undated". "Left Home High and Dry-Reduced Migration in Response to Repeated Droughts in Thailand and Vietnam," Mathematica Policy Research Reports ac2ba236e1b8428fbeb6d8b43, Mathematica Policy Research.
    11. Richa Richa & Ilan Noy & Subir Sen, 2024. "Extreme Weather and Inter-State Migration in India," CESifo Working Paper Series 10919, CESifo.
    12. Maya Moore & Dennis Wesselbaum, 2023. "Climatic factors as drivers of migration: a review," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 2955-2975, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    environment; international migration; protection; risk management; sustainability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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