Review of Economic Studies Vol. 83 No. 4 2016
Climate and the Emergence of Global Income Differences
Abstract
The latitude gradient in comparative development is a striking fact: as one moves away from the equator, economic activity rises. While this regularity is well known, it is not well understood. In the present paper we take a step towards unpacking this gradient. Perhaps the strongest correlate with (absolute) latitude is the intensity of ultraviolet radiation (UV-R), which epidemiological research has shown to be a cause of a wide range of diseases. We establish that UV-R is strongly and negatively correlated with economic activity, both across and within countries. We propose, and test, a mechanism that links UV-R to current income differences via the impact of disease ecology on the timing of the take-off to sustained growth.
- DOI
- 10.1093/restud/rdw006
- Volume
- 83
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1334-1363
- Language
- en
- Sources
- bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref openalex