Climate Shocks and Exports / Benjamin F. Jones, Benjamin A. Olken.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jones, Benjamin F.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Olken, Benjamin A.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w15711.

NBER working paper series no. w15711

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2010.

Summary:

This paper uses international trade data to examine the effects of climate shocks on economic activity. We examine panel models relating the annual growth rate of a country's exports in a particular product category to the country's weather in that year. We find that a poor country being 1 degree Celsius warmer in a given year reduces the growth rate of that country's exports by between 2.0 and 5.7 percentage points, with no detectable effects in rich countries. We find negative effects of temperature on exports of both agricultural products and light manufacturing products, with little apparent effects on heavy industry or raw materials. The results confirm large negative effects of temperature on poor countries' economies and suggest that temperature affects a much wider range of economic activity than conventionally thought.

Notes:

Print version record

January 2010.