THE ECONOMICS OF ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Robert Mendelsohn

Climate Change Economics (CCE), 2012, vol. 03, issue 02, 1-21

Abstract: Adaptations are changes in behavior and capital motivated by climate change. Economic theory suggests that adaptations are efficient (desirable) only if their benefit exceeds their cost. Private adaptations are likely to be efficient because the benefits and cost accrue to the decision maker. With some important exceptions, private adaptation is likely to be done efficiently by markets. Public adaptations, however, benefit many people. Markets are not likely to make efficient public adaptations because they cannot coordinate payments from multiple consumers. Governments need to be responsible for public adaptations. However, government must think carefully about being efficient. Empirically, little is known about what precise changes in behavior are efficient, where such changes should take place and when they should take place. The empirical literature has largely focused on how actors have adapted to the current range of climates across the earth. From these studies, researchers are extrapolating what changes would make sense in the future as climate changes. The results suggest that adaptations are local in nature and therefore look like patchwork adjustments across space. They depend on the current local climate, how it changes and the various local conditions. Although public adaptations in health and conservation look promising, there are virtually no economic analyses of their potential. Overall, adaptation can be very effective at reducing damages, for example, by building sea walls to protect from inundation, and seizing new opportunities, for example, by growing in crops in places that were previously too cold. Research must now focus on making the practical steps that turn that potential into reality.

Keywords: Climate Change Adaptation; developing countries; public adaptation; private adaptation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (40)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S2010007812500066
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:wsi:ccexxx:v:03:y:2012:i:02:n:s2010007812500066

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from

DOI: 10.1142/S2010007812500066

Access Statistics for this article

Climate Change Economics (CCE) is currently edited by Robert Mendelsohn

More articles in Climate Change Economics (CCE) from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tai Tone Lim ().