1,721,046 research outputs found
Impact of COVID-19 on inequality
No full textReplication code and datasets for Dasgupta, S. and Emmerling, J. (2021). COVID-19 lockdown led to an unprecedented increase in inequality
Burden of Climate Change on Malaria Mortality
Full text linkIn 2015, an estimated 429,000 deaths and 212 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide, while 70% of the deaths occurred in children under five years old. Changes in climatic exposure such as temperature and precipitation makes malaria one of the most climate sensitive outcomes. Using a global malaria mortality dataset for 105 countries between 1980 and 2010, we estimate that the global optimal temperature maximizing all-age malaria mortality is 20.6, lower than previously predicted in the literature. While in the case of child mortality, a significantly lower optimum temperature of 19.3° is estimated. Our results also suggest that in Africa and Asia, the continents where malaria is most prevalent malaria, mortality is maximized at 28.4 and 26.3, respectively. Furthermore, we estimate that child mortality (ages 0-4) is likely to increase by up to 20 percent in some areas due to climate change by the end of the 21st century
Development, Climate Change Adaptation, and Maladaptation: Some Econometric Evidence
No full textThis paper examines the determinants of climate related disasters and attempts to estimate the presence of adaptive capacity in terms of per capita income and population density elasticities. We find evidence of adaptive capacity in a “weak” form both in terms of income and population density elasticities over our entire sample. That is, damages are in fact increasing with income and population, but less than proportionally. There is also evidence of countries improving their adaptive capacity over the long run, but of maladaptation occurring in the short run. Repeating the analysis splitting the sample by per-capita income levels, we find that higher income countries show adaptive capacity in a “strong form”, i.e. damages decrease with GDP, while lower income countries highlight exactly the opposite behavior. Finally, using Granger causality tests for panel data, we find evidence of increase in GDP per capita Granger causing climate related damages for lower income countries, but not in higher income countries
Essays on the impact of climate change and determinants of climatological damages
Full text linkMy dissertation comprises of a collection of four individual papers studying climate change impacts. I use econometrics to quantify the impact of climate change and variability on crop yields and health, and analyzing the socioeconomic determinants of climatological disasters. Agriculture is extremely sensitive to changes in the climatic factors while climate change is likely to severely affect human health in fundamental ways. At the same time, climate related extreme events not only cause monetary damages but also directly endangers human lives. While a great deal of focus in the existing literature has been on aggregated global damages, my goal is also to examine if there have been differentiated or uneven distribution of impacts across countries
Global Financial and Economic Crisis: Exploring The Resilience of The Least Developed Countries
No full textt is often argued that strong macroeconomic fundamentals along with weak integration with international financial markets acted as major buffers for least developed countries (LDCs) against fallouts of the recent global financial and economic crisis. This paper examines the hypothesis that LDCs had strong macroeconomic fundamentals in the wake of the crisis by studying Impulse Response Functions (IRFs) of Gross Domestic Product per capita of the LDCs during the crisis. With the treatment of the crisis as a transmission of shocks and utilisation of IRFs, the paper finds substantial and rather persistent output and growth loss for LDCs because of fall in external demand and terms of trade shocks. With the forecast of the impacts of a potential ‘double-dip’ recession on the LDCs by using Vector Autoregressive, the paper concludes that LDCs would require the greater part of the decade to recover which is lower than the earlier recovery period
Attributing changes in food insecurity to a changing climate
Full text linkIt is generally accepted that climate change is having a negative impact on food security. However, most of the literature variously focuses on the complex and many mechanisms linking climate stressors; the links with food production or productivity rather than food security; and future rather than current effects. In contrast, we investigate the extent to which current changes in food insecurity can be plausibly attributed to climate change. We combine food insecurity data for 83 countries from the FAO food insecurity experience scale (FIES) with reanalysed climate data from ERA5-Land, and use a panel data regression with time-varying coefficients. This framework allows us to estimate whether the relationship between food insecurity and temperature anomaly is changing over time. We also control for Human Development Index, and drought measured by six-month Standardized Precipitation Index.
Our empirical findings suggest that for every 1°C of temperature anomaly, severe global food insecurity has increased by 1.4% (95% CI 1.3–1.47) in 2014 but by 1.64% (95% CI 1.6–1.65) in 2019. This impact is higher in the case of moderate to severe food insecurity, with a 1°C increase in temperature anomaly resulting in a 1.58% (95% CI 1.48–1.68) increase in 2014 but a 2.14% (95% CI 2.08–2.20) increase in 2019. Thus, the results show that the temperature anomaly has not only increased the probability of food insecurity, but the magnitude of this impact has increased over time. Our counterfactual analysis suggests that climate change has been responsible for reversing some of the improvements in food security that would otherwise have been realised, with the highest impact in Africa.
Our analysis both provides more evidence of the costs of climate change, and as such the benefits of mitigation, and also highlights the importance of targeted and efficient policies to reduce food insecurity. These policies are likely to need to take into account local contexts, and might include efforts to increase crop yields, targeted safety nets, and behavioural programs to promote household resilience
Institutions and the Environment: Existing Evidence and Future Directions
Full text linkIn this review we synthetize the existing contributions that use econometric approaches to examine the influence of institutions and governance on environmental policy, environmental outcomes, and investments. The paper describes how the relationship between institutions and various response variables related to environmental performance and environmental policy have been conceptualized and operationalized in the literature, and it summarizes the main findings. The second part of the paper outlines avenues for future research in the specific context of energy and climate change. We identify various opportunities for empirical work that have recently emerged with the growing availability of data in the field of green investments, climate, and energy policy. Expanding the current empirical literature towards these research topics is of scientific and policy relevance, and can provide important insights on the broader field of sustainability transition and sustainable development
Climate change and development in South Africa: the impact of rising temperatures on economic productivity and labour availability
No full textClimate change has a major impact on productivity of different economic sectors as well as different labour groups. Here we study the crucial linkage between gradual climate change and availability of low-skilled labour in rural areas of South Africa. Using a nationally representative panel of micro-survey data, we derive marginal impacts of rising temperatures on labour availability. Our econometric findings suggest that optimal conditions maximizing weekly labour supply are heterogeneous across sectors. We develop an analytical model of overlapping generations to study the long-term impacts of future climate and socioeconomic changes on labour supply and welfare. Overall, high exposure of low-skilled labour to climate change and rising temperatures reduces the supply of low-skilled labour which in turn, reduces the wage gap between high-skilled and low-skilled labour. However, the overall impact of climate change on economy remains negative and the welfare in terms of output per adult drops by 20% compared to the baseline case with no climate change
The influence of institutions, governance, and public opinion on the environment: Synthesized findings from applied econometrics studies
No full textWe synthesize the empirical contributions from the existing applied economics literature examining the influence of institutions and governance on environmental policy, environmental performance, and green investment. The literature on the influence of populism and public opinion on environmental policy adoption is also reviewed in line with the special issue. First, the paper describes how the relationship between institutions, environmental performance and environmental policy have been conceptualized and operationalized in the literature and summarizes the main findings. The second part of the paper outlines avenues for future research with specific attention to the energy transition and climate change literature. With respect to the positivist worldview adopted by this paper, we highlight various opportunities for empirical work that have recently emerged with the growing availability of data in the field of green investments, climate, and energy policy. Expanding the current empirical literature towards these research topics is of both scientific and policy relevance and can provide important insights on the broader field of sustainability transition and sustainable development. Regarding the alternative, non-positivist worldviews, future research could explore ways to connect the richer approaches such as complex adaptive systems and socio-technical transition studies with applied econometric methods, as well as future-oriented studies
Impact of COVID-19 on food insecurity using multiple waves of high frequency household surveys
Full text linkIn response to the rapid spread of COVID-19, governments across the globe have implemented local lockdowns that have led to increased unemployment and have disrupted local and international transport routes and supply chains. Whilst such efforts aim to slow or stop the spread of the SARSCoV-2 virus, they have also resulted in increased food insecurity, whether due to reduced incomes or increased food prices. This is the first paper to track food insecurity and its determinants during the pandemic using multi-country and multi-wave evidence. Using data from 11 countries and up to 6 waves of High-Frequency Phone Survey data (household-level surveys) on COVID-19 and its impacts, we use a fixed-effects linear probability model to investigate the socioeconomic determinants of food insecurity during the pandemic for each country using household-level data over multiple waves. We control for socioeconomic characteristics including gender and education of the household head; income and poverty status of the households during the pandemic; safety nets in the form of cash and food assistance; coping strategies adopted by households; and price effects of major food items. Our findings suggest that cash safety nets appear to have been more effective than food in terms of reducing food insecurity during the pandemic; and that those particularly hard hit are female headed households (highest in Malawi: 0.541, 95% CI 0.516, 0.569; lowest in Cambodia: 0.023, 95% CI 0.022, 0.024), the less educated (highest in Djibouti: − 0.232, 95% CI − 0.221, − 0.244; lowest in Nigeria: 0.006, 95% CI − 0.005, − 0.007), and poorer households (highest in Mali: 0.382, 95% CI 0.364, 0.402; lowest in Chad: 0.135, 95% CI 0.129, 0.142). In line with the existing literature, our results show that, even controlling for income loss and poverty status, those households who had to borrow rather than rely on savings had a higher probability of suffering from food insecurity. Distinct differences in the efficacy of safety nets across the 11 countries, and the differential impact of the pandemic on different groups within societies, suggest in-depth country-specific studies are needed to understand why some countries have coped better than others. Our paper highlights the importance of improving household resilience to future systemic crises, and using evidence-based best practice in the design of relevant policy instruments
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