Internal Labor Migration as a Shock Coping Strategy: Evidence from a Typhoon
利用高精度卫星数据识别越南台风引发的洪水变化，结合家庭面板数据，发现农村家庭主要通过向城市迁移劳动力来应对收入骤降，且远距离迁移比本地网络更有效。
We analyze how internal labor migration facilitates shock coping in rural economies. Employing high-precision satellite data, we identify objective variations in the inundations generated by a catastrophic typhoon in Vietnam and match them with household panel data before and after the shock. We find that, following a massive drop in income, households cope mainly through labor migration to urban areas. Households with settled migrants ex ante receive more remittances. Nonmigrant households react by sending new members away who then remit similar amounts than established migrants. This mechanism is most effective with long-distance migration, while local networks fail to provide insurance.