Temperature and Economic Activity: Evidence from India

Authors

Anuska Jain, Smith College
Róisín O'Sullivan, Smith CollegeFollow
Vis Taraz, Smith CollegeFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-3-2020

Publication Title

Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of temperature on economic activity in India, using state-level data from 1980–2015. We estimate that a 1 ◦C increase in contemporaneous temperature (relative to our sample mean) reduces the economic growth rate that year by 2.5 percentage points. The adverse impact of higher temperatures is more severe in poorer states and in the primary sector. Our analysis of lagged temperatures suggests that our effects are driven by the contemporaneous effect of temperature on output; we do not find evidence of a permanent impact of contemporaneous temperatures on future growth rates.

Keywords

climate change, economic growth, India, panel data, temperature

Volume

9

Issue

4

First Page

430

Last Page

446

DOI

doi.org/10.1080/21606544.2020.1727776

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Rights

Licensed to Smith College and distributed CC-BY under the Smith College Faculty Open Access Policy.

Comments

Author’s submitted manuscript.

Recommended Citation

Jain, Anuska; O'Sullivan, Róisín; and Taraz, Vis, "Temperature and Economic Activity: Evidence from India" (2020). Economics: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/eco_facpubs/39