Deadly Variation: The Effect of Temperature Variability on Mortality

Isabel Hovdahl

No No 01/2020, Working Papers from Centre for Applied Macro- and Petroleum economics (CAMP), BI Norwegian Business School

Abstract: While economists have focused on the e?ect of mean temperatures on mortality, climate scientists have emphasized that global warming might not only lead to an increase in mean temperatures, but can potentially also a?ect temperature variability. This is the ?rst paper to estimate the causal e?ect of temperature variability on mortality. Using monthly state level data for the US in the period 1969-2004, I o?er three main results: (1) Increased monthly temperature variability causes increased mortality, (2) omitting the e?ect of temperature variability on mortality can severely bias our predictions on the number of temperature-induced fatalities caused by global warming, and (3) adaptation to increased temperature variability is more di?cult than adaptation to increased mean temperatures.

Pages: 58 pages
Date: 2020-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bny:wpaper:0084

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