Abstract
How do weather anomalies affect the economy at the local level? This paper presents a new data set that links weather data to annual average night-light emission data for 24.000 0.5°× 0.5° grid-cells around the globe for the period 1992–2013. Interpreting night-light emission as a proxy for economic activity, these data allow one to investigate how weather anomalies affect economic activity. Global coverage avoids selection bias, while high spatial resolution avoids averaging out heterogeneity in local impacts at higher aggregation levels. Our data show significant effects on the local growth of night-light for storms, excessive precipitation, droughts, and cold spells. Moreover, we find evidence for significant spatial spillovers to neighboring areas. Our results suggest that these offsetting spillovers are typically local. As positive and negative effects average out in larger areas, our results call for the analysis of economic effects of weather anomalies at a high geographical resolution. Finally, our results are driven by events in lower income regions. As climate change is expected to make weather patterns more erratic, our new data can inform emerging debates on how this will affect the economy in both science and politics.
| Originalsprache | Englisch |
|---|---|
| Aufsatznummer | 105745 |
| Fachzeitschrift | World Development |
| Jahrgang | 151 |
| DOIs | |
| Publikationsstatus | Veröffentlicht - März 2022 |
| Extern publiziert | Ja |
Bibliographische Notiz
Funding Information:The authors thank Michéle Tertilt, Ilan Noy, Wouter Botzen, Bram van Besouw, Thomas Gomez, and Jordy Meekes, participants at the FIW Workshop on International Economic Networks Vienna, Mentoring Network Meeting of the EEA and ESEM in Cologne, Development Economics and Policy Conference Zürich, IOSE St. Petersburg, EGIT Düsseldorf, ETSG Florence, Environmental Economics Conference in Orléans, Geodata in Economics Workshops in Braunschweig and Hamburg, and seminars in Munich, Utrecht, Wellington, Cambridge, and Hamburg for their useful comments and suggestions. Jasmin Gröschl gratefully acknowledges funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) under project GR4896/1-1. Thomas Steinwachs gratefully acknowledges funding from the Leibniz Association under project SAW-2016-PIK-1. All remaining errors are our own.
Funding Information:
The authors thank Mich?le Tertilt, Ilan Noy, Wouter Botzen, Bram van Besouw, Thomas Gomez, and Jordy Meekes, participants at the FIW Workshop on International Economic Networks Vienna, Mentoring Network Meeting of the EEA and ESEM in Cologne, Development Economics and Policy Conference Z?rich, IOSE St. Petersburg, EGIT D?sseldorf, ETSG Florence, Environmental Economics Conference in Orl?ans, Geodata in Economics Workshops in Braunschweig and Hamburg, and seminars in Munich, Utrecht, Wellington, Cambridge, and Hamburg for their useful comments and suggestions. Jasmin Gr?schl gratefully acknowledges funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) under project GR4896/1-1. Thomas Steinwachs gratefully acknowledges funding from the Leibniz Association under project SAW-2016-PIK-1. All remaining errors are our own.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s)