Climate change, humidity, and mortality in the United States

Alan Barreca

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2012, vol. 63, issue 1, 19-34

Abstract: This paper estimates the effects of humidity and temperature on mortality rates in the United States (c. 1973–2002) in order to provide an insight into the potential health impacts of climate change. I find that humidity, like temperature, is an important determinant of mortality. Coupled with Hadley CM3 climate-change predictions, I project that mortality rates are likely to change little on the aggregate for the United States. However, distributional impacts matter: mortality rates are likely to decline in cold and dry areas, but increase in hot and humid areas. Further, accounting for humidity has important implications for evaluating these distributional effects.

Keywords: Mortality; Temperature; Humidity; Climate change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (138)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069611001033
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: Climate Change, Humidity, and Mortality in the United States (2009)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:63:y:2012:i:1:p:19-34

DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2011.07.004

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management is currently edited by M.A. Cole, A. Lange, D.J. Phaneuf, D. Popp, M.J. Roberts, M.D. Smith, C. Timmins, Q. Weninger and A.J. Yates

More articles in Journal of Environmental Economics and Management from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().