The economics of adaptation to extreme weather events in developing countries

Working paper 199:

This paper assesses the economics of adaptation to extreme weather events. It focuses on the role of socioeconomic development in increasing climate resilience.

Section 1 contains the introduction. Section 2 provides a summary of losses from extreme weather events in developing countries during the period 1960-2006. Section 3 reviews recent projections of climate impacts, economic growth and demographic change. It focuses particularly on projections by integrated assessment models that incorporate links between climate change and economic activity. Section 4 specifies a set of risk equations for weather-related disasters and estimates them by fixed effects. Section 5 develops country-specific projections for female education. Section 6 uses econometric results and education projections to forecast future risks under alternative assumptions about climate change. Section 7 uses these projections to estimate the cost of reducing future weather-related risks through more intensive investment in female education. Section 8 summarizes and concludes the paper.