Do Remittances Reach Households Living in Unfavorable Climate Areas? Evidence from the Republic of Yemen

There is evidence in the literature that migration and remittances tend to increase in response to climate shocks, so that both may function as coping mechanisms. It is not clear however whether remittances are likely to be higher in areas that suffer from poor climate in the absence of weather shocks. This chapter uses a nationally representative household survey for Yemen combined with weather data to measure remittance flows, both domestic and international, and assess the likelihood of households receiving remittances as well as the amounts received. We are interested in testing whether households living in less favorable areas in terms of climate (as measured through higher temperatures, lower rainfalls, more variability or seasonality in both, and larger differences in a given year between extreme temperatures) are more likely to benefit from remittances. The results suggest that this does not seem to be the case in Yemen.