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Happiness in the tropics: climate variables and subjective wellbeing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2021

Oscar Zapata Open the ORCID record for Oscar Zapata [Opens in a new window]
Oscar Zapata*
Affiliation:
School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada Department of Economics, University of Regina, Regina, Canada
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: oscar.zapata@usask.ca
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Abstract

Changes in climatic patterns are expected to have significant effects on health and wellbeing. However, the literature on the effect of climate on subjective wellbeing remains scant and existing studies focus mostly on developed countries or cross-country analyses. This paper aims to identify the relationship between climate conditions on happiness after controlling for individual and social characteristics. Ecuador, a geographically fragmented country with varying climate conditions across municipalities, constitutes an ideal case study to assess the effect of climate variables on happiness. We employ a cross-section analysis to identify the effect of temperature, precipitation and humidity on happiness. The paper shows that climate conditions constitute an important determinant of people's subjective wellbeing. The results also suggest that income and education attenuate the effect of temperature on happiness and that substantial differences are observed depending on whether places are hot/humid or cold/dry.

Keywords

climateEcuadorhappinesshealthwellbeing

JEL classification

Q54: Climate • Natural Disasters and Their Management • Global Warming
Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , June 2022 , pp. 250 - 271
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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