Coping with Weather Shocks

Accounting for multiple responses to weather shocks drastically changes policy implications for adaptation to increasingly variable weather. Kenyan households react to temperature anomalies by sending migrants, by transiting to less climate-sensitive occupations, and by changing livestock species. Evidence suggests these are short-term adjustments, which respond significantly to common interventions. Randomised income transfers cushion consumption losses and decrease adaptation pressure, such as migration. Better infrastructure, instead, eases occupational transitions, reducing alternative adjustments, including migration and livestock composition. A model of joint migration, occupation, and livestock choices reveals long-term effects of these short-term shocks. Transitions to non-agriculture first act as a substitute for migration and subsequently as a stepping stone for later migration.