This paper proposes a selective review of the classical economics-based literature on climate change and migration, focusing on the extent to which agriculture might be considered a key mediating channel linking climate change to migration. Overall, climate change is expected to have large and negative effects on the global economy. These effects are even more evident whenever the economic sector considered is the agricultural one, particularly in developing countries. Hence, migration can be viewed as a specific form of adaptation implemented by individuals and households, enabling them to cope, among other things, with weather-induced risk. We show that the importance of agriculture emerges from both plenty of micro-level country studies and relatively few macro-level analyses using cross-sectional data over longer time periods. Thus, policy actions targeted to sustainable agriculture and rural development can both help tackle the challenges posed by climate change and create opportunities in the face of growing migration issues. However, we also stress that much of the current evidence is based on statistical associations that have nothing to do with causal inferences. This calls for the use of a more structural approach and more sophisticated research designs, enabling the researchers to better discriminate among different mechanisms concurrently at work. In addition, further research should be addressed to the role played by food security, a complex dimension largely missing in the current debates on climate change and migration.

Do generations affected by natural disasters during adolescence and early adulthood form different preferences towards the environment than generations who are not? In line with the theories of social psychology, we show that an environmental shock experienced when the individual is between 18 and 25 years old (i.e., impressionable years hypothesis) help shape positive environmental preferences. In fact, people tend not to change beliefs in response to natural disasters experienced in other age ranges. Using information from the General Social Survey and the World Values Survey, we exploit yearly natural disasters variation both within the US and across countries to identify these effects.