Heat and well-being in the Old Continent

Climate change is bringing abnormally high temperatures to Europe and thus a substantial physical and mental health burden, especially for older populations. We expand the individual longitudinal Survey on Health, Aging and Retirement (SHARE) on the 50+ population in Europe, with heat exposure from gridded datasets and derived household location. We estimate that ten extra days in a year at 31º, an increase predicted for many European regions, without air-conditioning (AC), increases by 3 - 7 p.p. the probability of reporting fatigue, by 2 - 4 p.p. of reporting reduced appetite and by 4 p.p. of reporting difficulties sleeping. It also increases the probability of being irritable by 4 p.p., but the effect is short lived. Ultimately, heat increases the probability of hospitalization by 2 - 4 p.p.. Addressing potential biases in estimating AC's effect, we find that it protects meaningfully against hospitalization risk and especially against fatigue, but not against irritability nor difficulties sleeping. These states are mechanisms behind socio-economic outcomes connected with rising temperatures - cognitive performance, labour productivity, and aggressive behaviours. We find that the effects of heat and AC's protection accrue over time. The evidence of significant residual impacts calls for research on alternative adaptation measures.