IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fem/femwpa/2020.21.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Investigating the Origins of Differentiated Vulnerabilities to Climate Change and their Effects on Wellbeing

Author

Listed:
  • Federica Cappelli

    (Roma Tre University)

Abstract

The paper traces the evolution the concept of socioeconomic vulnerability to climate change has followed in the academic and scientific debate. The recent recognition of vulnerability as a social construction has shifted the focus of the analysis on the dimension of adaptive capacity, i.e. the human response to environmental stresses and climate hazards. Depending on the social and institutional factors in place in a society, this human response can either mitigate or exacerbate harm. In particular, the paper focuses on the role of both vertical and horizontal inequalities in determining differentiated vulnerabilities across individuals and population groups. Inequality in the distribution of income and relevant resources is primarily a question of access to tangible and intangible assets and capabilities that can enable individuals or population groups to prevent and cope with impacts from extreme weather events.

Suggested Citation

  • Federica Cappelli, 2020. "Investigating the Origins of Differentiated Vulnerabilities to Climate Change and their Effects on Wellbeing," Working Papers 2020.21, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    • Handle: RePEc:fem:femwpa:2020.21
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://feem-media.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/NDL2020-021.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. United Nations & World Bank, 2018. "Pathways for Peace," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 28337, December.
    2. Michael Ash & James K. Boyce, 2018. "Racial disparities in pollution exposure and employment at US industrial facilities," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 115(42), pages 10636-10641, October.
    3. Barrios, Salvador & Bertinelli, Luisito & Strobl, Eric, 2006. "Climatic change and rural-urban migration: The case of sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 357-371, November.
    4. Shemyakina, Olga, 2011. "The effect of armed conflict on accumulation of schooling: Results from Tajikistan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 186-200, July.
    5. Luca Marchiori & Ingmar Schumacher, 2011. "When nature rebels: international migration, climate change, and inequality," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(2), pages 569-600, April.
    6. Monica Das Gupta, 2014. "Population, Poverty, and Climate Change," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 29(1), pages 83-108.
    7. Frances Stewart, 2009. "Horizontal Inequality: Two Types of Trap," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 315-340.
    8. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Tan-Mullins, May & Abrahamse, Wokje, 2018. "Bloated bodies and broken bricks: Power, ecology, and inequality in the political economy of natural disaster recovery," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 243-255.
    9. Stéphane Hallegatte, 2012. "An exploration of the link between development, economic growth, and natural risk," Post-Print hal-00802047, HAL.
    10. Mathilde Maurel & Michele Tuccio, 2016. "Climate Instability, Urbanisation and International Migration," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(5), pages 735-752, May.
    11. Masozera, Michel & Bailey, Melissa & Kerchner, Charles, 2007. "Distribution of impacts of natural disasters across income groups: A case study of New Orleans," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2-3), pages 299-306, August.
    12. Marshall Burke & Solomon M. Hsiang & Edward Miguel, 2015. "Climate and Conflict," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 577-617, August.
    13. Joshua E. Cinner & W. Neil Adger & Edward H. Allison & Michele L. Barnes & Katrina Brown & Philippa J. Cohen & Stefan Gelcich & Christina C. Hicks & Terry P. Hughes & Jacqueline Lau & Nadine A. Marsha, 2018. "Building adaptive capacity to climate change in tropical coastal communities," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(2), pages 117-123, February.
    14. Samuel Bowles & Yongjin Park, 2005. "Emulation, Inequality, and Work Hours: Was Thorsten Veblen Right?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(507), pages 397-412, November.
    15. W. Adger & P. Kelly, 1999. "Social Vulnerability to Climate Change and the Architecture of Entitlements," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 253-266, September.
    16. J.C. Gaillard, 2010. "Vulnerability, capacity and resilience: Perspectives for climate and development policy," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2), pages 218-232.
    17. Laurent, Éloi, 2011. "Issues in environmental justice within the European Union," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 1846-1853, September.
    18. Dagmar Schröter & Colin Polsky & Anthony Patt, 2005. "Assessing vulnerabilities to the effects of global change: an eight step approach," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 573-595, October.
    19. Solomon Hsiang & Marshall Burke, 2014. "Climate, conflict, and social stability: what does the evidence say?," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 123(1), pages 39-55, March.
    20. Birthal, P.S. & Khan, T.M. & Negi, D.S. & Agarwal, S., 2014. "Impact of Climate Change on Yields of Major Food Crops in India: Implications for Food Security," Agricultural Economics Research Review, Agricultural Economics Research Association (India), vol. 27(2).
    21. Eiji Yamamura, 2015. "The Impact of Natural Disasters on Income Inequality: Analysis using Panel Data during the Period 1970 to 2004," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 359-374, September.
    22. Katrina Kosec & Hosaena Ghebru & Brian Holtemeyer & Valerie Mueller & Emily Schmidt, 2018. "The Effect of Land Access on Youth Employment and Migration Decisions: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 100(3), pages 931-954.
    23. Teodosijevic, Slobodanka B., 2003. "Armed conflicts and food security," ESA Working Papers 289088, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA).
    24. Gates, Scott & Hegre, Håvard & Nygård, Håvard Mokleiv & Strand, Håvard, 2012. "Development Consequences of Armed Conflict," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 1713-1722.
    25. Marchiori, Luca & Maystadt, Jean-François & Schumacher, Ingmar, 2012. "The impact of weather anomalies on migration in sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 355-374.
    26. Raphael J. Nawrotzki & Jack DeWaard & Maryia Bakhtsiyarava & Jasmine Trang Ha, 2017. "Climate shocks and rural-urban migration in Mexico: exploring nonlinearities and thresholds," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 140(2), pages 243-258, January.
    27. Weber, Lynn & Hilfinger Messias, DeAnne K., 2012. "Mississippi front-line recovery work after Hurricane Katrina: An analysis of the intersections of gender, race, and class in advocacy, power relations, and health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(11), pages 1833-1841.
    28. Slobodanka B. Teodosijevic, 2003. "Armed Conflicts and Food Security," Working Papers 03-11, Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - ESA).
    29. Julius Kotir, 2011. "Climate change and variability in Sub-Saharan Africa: a review of current and future trends and impacts on agriculture and food security," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 587-605, June.
    30. Qiangsheng Hu & Xiaorong He, 2018. "An Integrated Approach to Evaluate Urban Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, April.
    31. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2018. "Bamboo Beating Bandits: Conflict, Inequality, and Vulnerability in the Political Ecology of Climate Change Adaptation in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 183-194.
    32. Spencer Banzhaf & Lala Ma & Christopher Timmins, 2019. "Environmental Justice: The Economics of Race, Place, and Pollution," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 33(1), pages 185-208, Winter.
    33. Kaivan Munshi, 2003. "Networks in the Modern Economy: Mexican Migrants in the U. S. Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(2), pages 549-599.
    34. Andrew Jorgenson, 2015. "Inequality and the carbon intensity of human well-being," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 5(3), pages 277-282, September.
    35. Amarasinghe Upali & Samad, Madar & Anputhas Markandu, 2005. "Locating the poor: Spatially disaggregated poverty maps for Sri Lanka," IWMI Research Reports H037905, International Water Management Institute.
    36. World Bank, 2010. "World Development Report 2010," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4387, December.
    37. Nagoda, Sigrid & Nightingale, Andrea J., 2017. "Participation and Power in Climate Change Adaptation Policies: Vulnerability in Food Security Programs in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 85-93.
    38. Amarasinghe, Upali A. & Samad, Madar & Anputhas, Markandu, 2005. "Locating the poor: Spatially disaggregated poverty maps for Sri Lanka," IWMI Research Reports 44546, International Water Management Institute.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Federica Cappelli, 2023. "Investigating the origins of differentiated vulnerabilities to climate change through the lenses of the Capability Approach," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 40(3), pages 1051-1074, October.
    2. Katrin Millock & Cees Withagen, 2021. "Climate and Migration," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Anil Markandya & Dirk Rübbelke (ed.), CLIMATE AND DEVELOPMENT, chapter 10, pages 309-341, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. Castells-Quintana, David & Lopez-Uribe, Maria del Pilar & McDermott, Thomas K.J., 2018. "Adaptation to climate change: A review through a development economics lens," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 183-196.
    4. Castells-Quintana, David & del Pilar Lopez-Uribe, Maria & McDermott, Thomas K.J., 2018. "A review of adaptation to climate change through a development economics lens," Working Papers 309605, National University of Ireland, Galway, Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit.
    5. Yonas Alem & Mathilde Maurel & Katrin Millock, 2016. "Migration as an Adaptation Strategy to Weather Variability: An Instrumental Variables Probit Analysis," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-01955941, HAL.
    6. Cai, Ruohong & Feng, Shuaizhang & Oppenheimer, Michael & Pytlikova, Mariola, 2016. "Climate variability and international migration: The importance of the agricultural linkage," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 135-151.
    7. Barbora Šedová & Lucia Čizmaziová & Athene Cook, 2021. "A meta-analysis of climate migration literature," CEPA Discussion Papers 29, Center for Economic Policy Analysis.
    8. Maya Moore & Dennis Wesselbaum, 2023. "Climatic factors as drivers of migration: a review," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 2955-2975, April.
    9. Ariel R. Belasen & Solomon W. Polachek, 2013. "Natural disasters and migration," Chapters, in: Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Migration, chapter 17, pages 309-330, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Luca Marchiori & Jean-François Maystadt & Ingmar Schumacher, 2017. "Is Environmentally-induced Income Variability a Driver of Human Migration?," Working Papers 2017-010, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.
    11. Luca Marchiori & Jean Francois Maystadt & Ingmar Schumacher, 2013. "Is environmentally," Working Papers 2013-17, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.
    12. Beine, Michel & Jeusette, Lionel, 2021. "A meta-analysis of the literature on climate change and migration," Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 87(3), pages 293-344, September.
    13. repec:ipg:wpaper:17 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Marchiori, Luca & Maystadt, Jean-François & Schumacher, Ingmar, 2012. "The impact of weather anomalies on migration in sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 355-374.
    15. Marc Helbling & Daniel Meierrieks, 2023. "Global warming and urbanization," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1187-1223, July.
    16. Mueller, Valerie & Sheriff, Glenn & Dou, Xiaoya & Gray, Clark, 2020. "Temporary migration and climate variation in eastern Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    17. repec:ipg:wpaper:2013-017 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Sedova, Barbora & Kalkuhl, Matthias, 2020. "Who are the climate migrants and where do they go? Evidence from rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    19. Maria Waldinger, 2015. "The effects of climate change on internal and international migration: implications for developing countries," GRI Working Papers 192, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    20. Luigi Minale, 2018. "Agricultural productivity shocks, labour reallocation and rural–urban migration in China," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(4), pages 795-821.
    21. Cattaneo, Cristina & Peri, Giovanni, 2016. "The migration response to increasing temperatures," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 127-146.
    22. repec:mse:cesdoc:13045 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Michael Brottrager & Jesus Crespo Cuaresma & Dominic Kniveton & Saleem H. Ali, 2023. "Natural resources modulate the nexus between environmental shocks and human mobility," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Climate Change; Vulnerability; Inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fem:femwpa:2020.21. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Alberto Prina Cerai (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/feemmit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.