Cross-Sectional Analyses of Climate Change Impacts

The authors explore the use of cross-sectional analysis to measure the impacts of climate change on agriculture. The impact literature, using experiments on crops in laboratory settings combined with simulation models, suggests that agriculture wil...

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Main Authors: Mendelsohn, Robert, Dinar, Ariel, Basist, Alan, Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep, Ihsan Ajwad, Mohamed, Kogan, Felix, Williams, Claude
Format: Policy Research Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, D.C. 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/06/4990497/cross-sectional-analyses-climate-change-impacts
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14172
id okr-10986-14172
recordtype oai_dc
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic CLIMATE CHANGE
CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION
CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH
CLIMATE DATA CENTERS
CLIMATE IMPACT ASSESSMENTS
CLIMATE RESEARCH
CLIMATE VARIATION
CROSS SECTION ANALYSIS
CROSS SECTION DATA
AGRICULTURAL PERFORMANCE
ADAPTATION TO CHANGE
CENSUS DATA
WEATHER STATIONS
SATELLITE DATA
RURAL INCOME AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
AGRICULTURE
ALTERNATIVE APPROACH
ALTITUDE
CARBON
CARBON DIOXIDE
CLIMATE
CLIMATE ANALYSIS
CLIMATE CHANGE
CLIMATE CONDITIONS
CLIMATE IMPACTS
CLIMATE MODELS
CLIMATE VARIABLES
CLIMATE ZONES
CLIMATIC CHANGE
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS
CLIMATIC REGIONS
CO
CROPS
DATA CAPTURE
DATA SETS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DIMINISHING RETURNS
DROUGHT
ECONOMISTS
ELASTICITIES
EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS
FARMS
FOOD PRODUCTION
FRUITS
GDP
GEOGRAPHIC AREAS
GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS
GLOBAL WARMING
GROUND WATER
INCOME
INPUT PRICES
INSURANCE
IPCC
IRRIGATION
LABOR FORCE
LAND VALUE
MARKET PRICES
METEOROLOGY
MITIGATION
MONSOONS
PLAINS
POLICY MAKERS
POTENTIAL IMPACTS
PRECIPITATION
PRESENT VALUE
PRODUCTIVITY
RAIN
RAINFALL
RETURNS TO SCALE
SATELLITE DATA
SATELLITES
SOCIOECONOMIC VARIABLES
SOIL
SOILS
TEMPERATURE
TRANSACTION COSTS
VARIABLE COSTS
WEATHER
WEATHER MONITORING
WEATHER PATTERNS
WEATHER STATIONS
spellingShingle CLIMATE CHANGE
CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION
CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH
CLIMATE DATA CENTERS
CLIMATE IMPACT ASSESSMENTS
CLIMATE RESEARCH
CLIMATE VARIATION
CROSS SECTION ANALYSIS
CROSS SECTION DATA
AGRICULTURAL PERFORMANCE
ADAPTATION TO CHANGE
CENSUS DATA
WEATHER STATIONS
SATELLITE DATA
RURAL INCOME AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
AGRICULTURE
ALTERNATIVE APPROACH
ALTITUDE
CARBON
CARBON DIOXIDE
CLIMATE
CLIMATE ANALYSIS
CLIMATE CHANGE
CLIMATE CONDITIONS
CLIMATE IMPACTS
CLIMATE MODELS
CLIMATE VARIABLES
CLIMATE ZONES
CLIMATIC CHANGE
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS
CLIMATIC REGIONS
CO
CROPS
DATA CAPTURE
DATA SETS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DIMINISHING RETURNS
DROUGHT
ECONOMISTS
ELASTICITIES
EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS
FARMS
FOOD PRODUCTION
FRUITS
GDP
GEOGRAPHIC AREAS
GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS
GLOBAL WARMING
GROUND WATER
INCOME
INPUT PRICES
INSURANCE
IPCC
IRRIGATION
LABOR FORCE
LAND VALUE
MARKET PRICES
METEOROLOGY
MITIGATION
MONSOONS
PLAINS
POLICY MAKERS
POTENTIAL IMPACTS
PRECIPITATION
PRESENT VALUE
PRODUCTIVITY
RAIN
RAINFALL
RETURNS TO SCALE
SATELLITE DATA
SATELLITES
SOCIOECONOMIC VARIABLES
SOIL
SOILS
TEMPERATURE
TRANSACTION COSTS
VARIABLE COSTS
WEATHER
WEATHER MONITORING
WEATHER PATTERNS
WEATHER STATIONS
Mendelsohn, Robert
Dinar, Ariel
Basist, Alan
Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep
Ihsan Ajwad, Mohamed
Kogan, Felix
Williams, Claude
Cross-Sectional Analyses of Climate Change Impacts
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No.3350
description The authors explore the use of cross-sectional analysis to measure the impacts of climate change on agriculture. The impact literature, using experiments on crops in laboratory settings combined with simulation models, suggests that agriculture will be strongly affected by climate change. The extent of these effects varies by country and region. Therefore, local experiments are needed for policy purposes, which becomes expensive and difficult to implement for most developing countries. The cross-sectional technique, as an alternative approach, examines farm performance across a broad range of climates. By seeing how farm performance changes with climate, one can estimate long-run impacts. The advantage of this approach is that it fully captures adaptation as each farmer adapts to the climate they have lived in. The technique measures the full net cost of climate change, including the costs as well as the benefits of adaptation. However, the technique is not concern-free. The four chapters in this paper examine important potential concerns of the cross-sectional method and how they could be addressed, especially in developing countries. Data availability is a major concern in developing countries. The first chapter looks at whether estimating impacts using individual farm data can substitute using agricultural census data at the district level that is more difficult to obtain in developing countries. The study, conducted in Sri Lanka, finds that the individual farm data from surveys are ideal for cross-sectional analysis. Another anticipated problem with applying the cross-sectional approach to developing countries is the absence of weather stations, or discontinued weather data sets. Further, weather stations tend to be concentrated in urban settings. Measures of climate across the landscape, especially where farms are located, are difficult to acquire. The second chapter compares the use of satellite data with ground weather stations. Analyzing these two sources of information, the study reveals that satellite data can explain more of the observed variation in farm performance than ground station data. Because satellite data are readily available for the entire planet, the availability of climate data will not be a constraint. A continuing debate is whether farm performance depends on just climate normals-the average weather over a long period of time-or on climate variance (variations away from the climate normal). Chapter 3 reveals that climate normals and climate variance are highly correlated. By adding climate variance, the studies can begin to measure the importance of weather extremes as well as normals. A host of studies have revealed that climate affects agricultural performance. Since agriculture is a primary source of income in rural areas, it follows that climate might explain variations in rural income. This is tested in the analysis in Chapter 4 and shown to be the case. The analysis reveals that local people in rural areas could be heavily affected by climate change even in circumstances when the aggregate agricultural sector in the country does fine.
format Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author Mendelsohn, Robert
Dinar, Ariel
Basist, Alan
Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep
Ihsan Ajwad, Mohamed
Kogan, Felix
Williams, Claude
author_facet Mendelsohn, Robert
Dinar, Ariel
Basist, Alan
Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep
Ihsan Ajwad, Mohamed
Kogan, Felix
Williams, Claude
author_sort Mendelsohn, Robert
title Cross-Sectional Analyses of Climate Change Impacts
title_short Cross-Sectional Analyses of Climate Change Impacts
title_full Cross-Sectional Analyses of Climate Change Impacts
title_fullStr Cross-Sectional Analyses of Climate Change Impacts
title_full_unstemmed Cross-Sectional Analyses of Climate Change Impacts
title_sort cross-sectional analyses of climate change impacts
publisher World Bank, Washington, D.C.
publishDate 2013
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/06/4990497/cross-sectional-analyses-climate-change-impacts
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14172
_version_ 1764430532180967424
spelling okr-10986-141722021-04-23T14:03:21Z Cross-Sectional Analyses of Climate Change Impacts Mendelsohn, Robert Dinar, Ariel Basist, Alan Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep Ihsan Ajwad, Mohamed Kogan, Felix Williams, Claude CLIMATE CHANGE CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH CLIMATE DATA CENTERS CLIMATE IMPACT ASSESSMENTS CLIMATE RESEARCH CLIMATE VARIATION CROSS SECTION ANALYSIS CROSS SECTION DATA AGRICULTURAL PERFORMANCE ADAPTATION TO CHANGE CENSUS DATA WEATHER STATIONS SATELLITE DATA RURAL INCOME AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AGRICULTURE ALTERNATIVE APPROACH ALTITUDE CARBON CARBON DIOXIDE CLIMATE CLIMATE ANALYSIS CLIMATE CHANGE CLIMATE CONDITIONS CLIMATE IMPACTS CLIMATE MODELS CLIMATE VARIABLES CLIMATE ZONES CLIMATIC CHANGE CLIMATIC CONDITIONS CLIMATIC REGIONS CO CROPS DATA CAPTURE DATA SETS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES DIMINISHING RETURNS DROUGHT ECONOMISTS ELASTICITIES EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS FARMS FOOD PRODUCTION FRUITS GDP GEOGRAPHIC AREAS GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS GLOBAL WARMING GROUND WATER INCOME INPUT PRICES INSURANCE IPCC IRRIGATION LABOR FORCE LAND VALUE MARKET PRICES METEOROLOGY MITIGATION MONSOONS PLAINS POLICY MAKERS POTENTIAL IMPACTS PRECIPITATION PRESENT VALUE PRODUCTIVITY RAIN RAINFALL RETURNS TO SCALE SATELLITE DATA SATELLITES SOCIOECONOMIC VARIABLES SOIL SOILS TEMPERATURE TRANSACTION COSTS VARIABLE COSTS WEATHER WEATHER MONITORING WEATHER PATTERNS WEATHER STATIONS The authors explore the use of cross-sectional analysis to measure the impacts of climate change on agriculture. The impact literature, using experiments on crops in laboratory settings combined with simulation models, suggests that agriculture will be strongly affected by climate change. The extent of these effects varies by country and region. Therefore, local experiments are needed for policy purposes, which becomes expensive and difficult to implement for most developing countries. The cross-sectional technique, as an alternative approach, examines farm performance across a broad range of climates. By seeing how farm performance changes with climate, one can estimate long-run impacts. The advantage of this approach is that it fully captures adaptation as each farmer adapts to the climate they have lived in. The technique measures the full net cost of climate change, including the costs as well as the benefits of adaptation. However, the technique is not concern-free. The four chapters in this paper examine important potential concerns of the cross-sectional method and how they could be addressed, especially in developing countries. Data availability is a major concern in developing countries. The first chapter looks at whether estimating impacts using individual farm data can substitute using agricultural census data at the district level that is more difficult to obtain in developing countries. The study, conducted in Sri Lanka, finds that the individual farm data from surveys are ideal for cross-sectional analysis. Another anticipated problem with applying the cross-sectional approach to developing countries is the absence of weather stations, or discontinued weather data sets. Further, weather stations tend to be concentrated in urban settings. Measures of climate across the landscape, especially where farms are located, are difficult to acquire. The second chapter compares the use of satellite data with ground weather stations. Analyzing these two sources of information, the study reveals that satellite data can explain more of the observed variation in farm performance than ground station data. Because satellite data are readily available for the entire planet, the availability of climate data will not be a constraint. A continuing debate is whether farm performance depends on just climate normals-the average weather over a long period of time-or on climate variance (variations away from the climate normal). Chapter 3 reveals that climate normals and climate variance are highly correlated. By adding climate variance, the studies can begin to measure the importance of weather extremes as well as normals. A host of studies have revealed that climate affects agricultural performance. Since agriculture is a primary source of income in rural areas, it follows that climate might explain variations in rural income. This is tested in the analysis in Chapter 4 and shown to be the case. The analysis reveals that local people in rural areas could be heavily affected by climate change even in circumstances when the aggregate agricultural sector in the country does fine. 2013-06-25T16:17:14Z 2013-06-25T16:17:14Z 2004-06 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/06/4990497/cross-sectional-analyses-climate-change-impacts http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14172 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No.3350 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, D.C. Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research