The economics of adaptation to extreme weather events in developing countries

This paper assesses the economics of adaptation to extreme weather events. It focuses on the role of socioeconomic development in increasing climate resilience.

Section 1 contains the introduction. Section 2 provides a summary of losses from extreme weather events in developing countries during the period 1960-2006. Section 3 reviews recent projections of climate impacts, economic growth and demographic change. It focuses particularly on projections by integrated assessment models that incorporate links between climate change and economic activity. Section 4 specifies a set of risk equations for weather-related disasters and estimates them by fixed effects. Section 5 develops country-specific projections for female education. Section 6 uses econometric results and education projections to forecast future risks under alternative assumptions about climate change. Section 7 uses these projections to estimate the cost of reducing future weather-related risks through more intensive investment in female education. Section 8 summarizes and concludes the paper.