Is Climate Change Slowing the Urban Escalator out of Poverty ? Evidence from Chile,Colombia, and Indonesia

While urbanization has great potential to facilitate poverty reduction, climate shocksrepresent a looming threat to such upward mobility. This paper empirically analyzes the effects of climatic risks onthe function of urban agglomerations to support poor households to escape from poverty. Combining householdsurveys with climatic datasets, the panel regression analysis for Chile, Colombia, and Indonesia finds thathouseholds in large metropolitan areas are more likely to escape from poverty, indicating better access to economicopportunities in those areas. However, the climate shocks offset such benefits of urban agglomerations, as extremerainfalls and high flood risks significantly reduce the chance of upward mobility. The findings underscore the needto enhance resilience among the urban poor to allow them to fully utilize the benefits of urban agglomerations.