The irreversible welfare cost of climate anomalies. Evidence from Japan (1872-1917)

Jean-Pascal Bassino (), Thomas Lagoarde-Segot and Ulrich Woitek

No 704, Discussion Paper Series from Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University

Abstract: This paper presents evidence of the irreversible consequences of exogenous climatic shocks and economic fluctuations on human welfare. We rely on a unique data set covering the period from 1872 to 1917, corresponding to the early phase of Japanese industrialization. This data includes prefecture level average temperature, precipitation, agricultural prices, and the number of individuals by interval of height recorded in conscription reports, as well as nationwide indices of fluctuation in economic activities. We estimate the impact of yearly and monthly regional climate anomalies and yearly nationwide business cycle reversals on the average height of Japanese conscripts and its dispersion.

Keywords: Business cycles; climate shocks; human stature; height cycles; Japan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E32 I15 N15 N95 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2020-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-env, nep-his and nep-mac
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hit:hituec:704

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