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Articles 1 - 5 of 5
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Long-Term Migration Trends And Rising Temperatures: The Role Of Irrigation, Théo Benonnier, Katrin Millock, Vis Taraz
Long-Term Migration Trends And Rising Temperatures: The Role Of Irrigation, Théo Benonnier, Katrin Millock, Vis Taraz
Economics: Faculty Publications
Climate variability has the potential to affect both international and internal migration profoundly. Earlier work finds that higher temperatures reduce agricultural yields, which in turn reduces migration rates in low-income countries, due to liquidity constraints. We test whether access to irrigation modulates this temperature–migration relationship, since irrigation buffers agricultural incomes from high temperatures. We regress measures of international and internal migration on decadal averages of temperature and rainfall, interacted with country-level data on irrigation and income. We find robust evidence that, for poor countries, irrigation access significantly offsets the negative effect of increasing temperatures on internal migration, as proxied by …
Temperature And Human Capital In India, Teevrat Garg, Maulik Jagnani, Vis Taraz
Temperature And Human Capital In India, Teevrat Garg, Maulik Jagnani, Vis Taraz
Economics: Faculty Publications
We estimate the effects of temperature on human capital production in India. We show that high temperatures reduce math and reading test scores among school-age children. Agricultural income is one mechanism driving this relationship— hot days during the growing season reduce agricultural yields and test scores with comparatively modest effects of hot days in the nongrowing season. The roll-out of a workfare program, by providing a safety net for the poor, substantially weakens the link between temperature and test scores. Our results imply that absent social protection programs, higher temperatures will have large negative i
Can Farmers Adapt To Higher Temperatures? Evidence From India, Vis Taraz
Can Farmers Adapt To Higher Temperatures? Evidence From India, Vis Taraz
Economics: Faculty Publications
Projections suggest that the damages from climate change will be substantial for developing countries. Understanding the ability of households in these countries to adapt to climate change is critical in order to determine the magnitude of the potential damages. In this paper, I investigate the ability of farmers in India to adapt to higher temperatures. I use a methodology that exploits short-term weather fluctuations as well as spatial variation in long-run climate. Specifically, I estimate how damaging high temperatures are for districts that experience high temperatures more or less frequently. I find that the losses from high temperatures are lower …
African Environmental Change From The Pleistocene To The Anthropocene, Colin Hoag, Jens-Christian Svenning
African Environmental Change From The Pleistocene To The Anthropocene, Colin Hoag, Jens-Christian Svenning
Anthropology: Faculty Publications
This review explores what past environmental change in Africa—and African people's response to it—can teach us about how to cope with life in the Anthropocene. Organized around four drivers of change—climate; agriculture and pastoralism; megafauna; and imperialism, colonialism, and capitalism (ICC)—our review zooms in on key regions and debates, including desertification; rangeland degradation; megafauna loss; and land grabbing. Multiscale climate change is a recurring theme in the continent's history, interacting with increasingly intense human activities from several million years onward, leading to oscillating, contingent environmental changes and societally adaptive responses. With high levels of poverty, fast population growth, and potentially …
The Downside Risk Of Climate Change In California’S Central Valley Agricultural Sector, Michael Hanemann, Susan Stratton Sayre, Larry Dale
The Downside Risk Of Climate Change In California’S Central Valley Agricultural Sector, Michael Hanemann, Susan Stratton Sayre, Larry Dale
Economics: Faculty Publications
Downscaled climate change projections for California, when translated into changes in irrigation water delivery and then into profit from agriculture in the Central Valley, show an increase in conventional measures of variability such as the variance. However, these increases are modest and mask a more pronounced increase in downside risk, defined as the probability of unfavorable outcomes of water supply or profit. This paper describes the concept of downside risk and measures it as it applies to outcomes for Central Valley agriculture projected under four climate change scenarios. We compare the effect of downside risk aversion versus conventional risk aversion …