Temperature and U.S. Economic Growth: Comment on Colacito, Hoffmann, and Phan

David Barker

Econ Journal Watch, 2022, vol. 19, issue 2, 176–189

Abstract: A recent paper in the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking claims to show that higher temperatures decrease the rate of economic growth in the United States. The paper is authored by Riccardo Colacito, Bridget Hoffmann, and Toan Phan (CHP). I criticize CHP’s method on two fundamental counts. Once those failings are rectified, their results dissolve. Also, using data from Krishna Khatri and Robert Tamura containing estimates of total real annual state output, I find that the sign of the effect is reversed, indicating that higher temperatures increase economic growth, although this effect also fails tests of statistical significance.

Keywords: climate change; global warming; economic growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O44 Q51 Q59 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ejw:journl:v:19:y:2022:i:2:p:176-189

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