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Tropical Storms and Mortality under Climate Change

Todd Pugatch

No 12117, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Extreme weather induced by climate change can have major consequences for human health. In this study, I quantify the effect of tropical storm frequency and severity on mortality using objective meteorological data and the universe of vital statistics records from a large developing country, Mexico. Using a measure of storm exposure that accounts for both windspeed dispersion and population density along the storm track, I project changes in past storm-related mortality under various scenarios of continued climate change, while holding population and income at current levels. I find that storm-related deaths would have risen under most climate change scenarios considered, with increases of as much as 52% or declines of as much as 10%, depending on the interplay between increasing storm severity and decreased frequency.

Keywords: climate change; human health; human mortality; natural disasters; hurricanes; tropical cyclones; tropical storms; developing countries; Latin America; Mexico (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I15 J10 O13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2019-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-env and nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - published in: World Development, 2019, 117, 172-182

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Related works:
Journal Article: Tropical storms and mortality under climate change (2019) Downloads
Working Paper: Tropical Storms and Mortality under Climate Change (2019) Downloads
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