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Measuring impacts of extreme weather events using the life satisfaction approach

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  • von Möllendorff, Charlotte
  • Hirschfeld, Jesko

Abstract

Extreme weather events cause harm among the aggrieved party that often goes beyond material damages. This paper studies the impact of extreme weather events on measures of self-reported life satisfaction. Focusing on Germany, we use representative panel data for 2000–2011 to study the effect of seven storm & hail events and five floods on subjective well-being in the affected NUTS 3 regions. Our results indicate that both weather experiences bear statistically significant negative externalities. Following an extreme weather event, life satisfaction is reduced by 0.020–0.027 on the 11-point scale. While the effect of storm & hail events is rather immediate in nature, the effect from floods persists much longer.

Suggested Citation

  • von Möllendorff, Charlotte & Hirschfeld, Jesko, 2016. "Measuring impacts of extreme weather events using the life satisfaction approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 108-116.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:121:y:2016:i:c:p:108-116
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.11.013
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    Cited by:

    1. repec:eee:ecolec:v:152:y:2018:i:c:p:27-39 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. repec:eee:ecolec:v:159:y:2019:i:c:p:344-353 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. repec:spr:inrvec:v:65:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s12232-017-0290-7 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Ahmadiani, Mona & Ferreira, Susana, 2018. "Well-being Effects of Extreme Weather Events in the United States," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274433, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Sekulova, Filka & van den Bergh, Jeroen C.J.M., 2016. "Floods and happiness: Empirical evidence from Bulgaria," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 51-57.
    6. Jones, Benjamin A., 2017. "Invasive Species Impacts on Human Well-being Using the Life Satisfaction Index," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 250-257.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Extreme weather events; Subjective well-being; Life satisfaction; Nonmarket valuation;

    JEL classification:

    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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