Estimation of Climate Change Damage Functions for 140 Regions in the GTAP 9 Data Base

Main Article Content

Roberto Roson
Martina Sartori

Abstract

Climate change damage (or, more correctly, impact) functions relate variations in temperature (or other climate variables) to economic impacts in various dimensions, and are at the basis of quantitative modeling exercises for the assessment of climate change policies. This document provides a summary of results from a series of meta-analyses aimed at estimating parameters for six specific damage functions, referring to: sea level rise, agricultural productivity, heat effects on labor productivity, human health, tourism flows, and households' energy demand. All parameters of the damage functions are estimated for each of the 140 countries and regions in version 9 of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP 9) Data Base. To illustrate the salient characteristics of the estimates, the change in real gross domestic product is approximated for the different effects, in all regions, corresponding to an increase in average temperature of +3°C. After considering the overall impact, the paper highlights which factor is the most significant one in each country, and elaborates on the distributional consequences of climate change. 

Article Details

How to Cite
Roson, R., & Sartori, M. (2016). Estimation of Climate Change Damage Functions for 140 Regions in the GTAP 9 Data Base. Journal of Global Economic Analysis, 1(2), 78–115. https://doi.org/10.21642/JGEA.010202AF
Section
Advances in Data and Parameters
Author Biography

Roberto Roson, Ca'Foscari University of Venice

Roberto Roson is a Professor of Economics at Ca’Foscari University in Venice and Senior Research Fellow at IEFE, the Institute for Environmental End Energy Economics of the Bocconi University, Milan, Italy. He is the author of several articles published in books and international scientific journals, and coordinator of several applied research projects, including the European FP7 project WASSERMed. He has also been consultant for several organisations, including European Commission (JRC), World Bank, United Nations and FAO. His research interests deal primarily with environmental economics, computable models for economic policy simulation and with the industrial organisation of service industries.