Measuring Climate Adaptation: Methods and Evidence

Emanuele Massetti and Robert Mendelsohn

Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 2018, vol. 12, issue 2, 324-341

Abstract: This article examines methods for measuring climate adaptation and discusses the empirical evidence. The primary methods for measuring climate adaptation are cross-sectional analysis, simulations, and intertemporal panel data. The empirical evidence in the literature suggests that adaptation can be effective at eliminating a large fraction of potential damage from changes in mean climate but not short-term climate variation. Much of the adaptation will likely be incremental and reactive, responding to climate as it changes over time. Private actors have their own incentives to adapt to climate change and are likely to change their behavior if it makes them better off. But government action is needed to ensure that markets are efficient and to support public adaptations, especially those related to water supply, coastal defense, human health, and environmental protection.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/reep/rey007 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
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:oup:renvpo:v:12:y:2018:i:2:p:324-341.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Review of Environmental Economics and Policy is currently edited by Robert Stavins

More articles in Review of Environmental Economics and Policy from Association of Environmental and Resource Economists Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().