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The Impact of Climate Disasters on Climate Action: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Western Europe

Author

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  • Giorgos Galanis
  • Giorgio Ricchiuti
  • Ben Tippet

Abstract

Unexpected climate disasters have been shown to increase public concern for tackling climate change, but not change the attitudes of policy makers. This raises the question of what the overall impact of climate disasters are on mitigation laws and policies? This paper utilises a natural experiment to estimate the impact of extreme and unexpected disaster shocks on mitigation laws and policies for 17 Western European countries. Over the period from 1980 to 2020, we identify 1990 as a particularly extreme year of climate shocks for some countries in Western Europe. Using a simple difference in difference estimation, we show that these countries which experienced the extreme climate disaster shock in 1990 implemented less mitigation laws relative to the control group over the next 10 years. This suggests that while disasters may increase public concern for the environment, they do not necessarily translate into more mitigation laws.

Suggested Citation

  • Giorgos Galanis & Giorgio Ricchiuti & Ben Tippet, 2025. "The Impact of Climate Disasters on Climate Action: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Western Europe," Working Papers - Economics wp2025_10.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    • Handle: RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2025_10.rdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Climate Risk; Climate Disasters; Natural Experiment; Environmental Laws;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C1 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General
    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • Q57 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Ecological Economics

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