The Hoffmann Centre will welcome Diego Känzig, Assistant Professor of Economics at Northwestern University, for a public lecture on Global Temperature and Global Mortality. Drawing on new research at the intersection of climate economics and macroeconomics, Professor Känzig will examine how global warming affects mortality through both direct and indirect economic pathways, offering new insights into the human and economic costs of climate change.
The lecture will be followed by the Hoffmann Circle Dinner, a high-level gathering of academics, policymakers, and practitioners working at the intersection of climate, nature, and sustainability.
About the Paper
Abstract: This paper documents large indirect mortality impacts of climate change. Exploiting natural global temperature variability, we find that 1°C of warming increases annual mortality by 2.5 deaths per 1,000 individuals, compared to 0.1 deaths per 1,000 due to the associated local heat exposure. Using external estimates of the impact of global income on mortality, we show that the macroeconomic effects of global temperature changes explain over two thirds of the gap between these estimates. We use this evidence to estimate damage functions in a neoclassical growth model that links mortality and economic activity and accounts for adaptation to mortality impacts. Mortality contributes $400 per ton of CO2 to the Social Cost of Carbon, or one quarter of total climate damages. These results suggest that economic adaptation has a double dividend by also reducing climate-related mortality.
About the Speaker
Diego Känzig is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Northwestern University, a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a Research Affiliate at the Centre for Economic Policy Research. His research lies at the intersection of macroeconomics, climate economics, and finance. He studies how climate change, energy shocks, and climate policy affect economic growth, fluctuations, and inequality. His recent work has been published in leading general-interest journals, including the American Economic Review and the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and has received wide attention in policy circles and the media. He also serves as an Associate Editor at the Journal of the European Economic Association.