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Olivier Deschenes
Subject Editor, Environment

University of California Santa Barbara, USA, and IZA, Germany

IZA World of Labor role

Author, Topic spokesperson, Subject Editor

Current position

Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara

Research interest

Economic and health impacts of global climate change, adaptation to climate change, relationship between energy markets and labor markets

Website

http://bit.ly/Deschenes_IZApage

Qualifications

PhD Economics, Princeton University, 2001

Selected publications

  • “The economic impacts of climate change: Evidence from agricultural profits and random fluctuations in weather.” American Economic Review 97:1 (2007): 354–385.

  • “Climate change and birth weight.” American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings 99:2 (2009): 211–217.

  • “Extreme weather events, mortality and migration.” Review of Economics and Statistics 91:4 (2009): 659–681.

  • “Climate change, mortality, and adaptation: Evidence from annual fluctuations in weather in the U.S.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 3:4 (2011): 152–185.

  • “Climate policy and labor markets.” In: Fullerton, D., and C. Wolfram (eds). The Design and Implementation of U.S. Climate Policy. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2012.

article(s)

  • Temperature, productivity, and income

    Rising temperatures due to climate change could dampen productivity growth for decades

    Olivier Deschenes, February 2023
    Climate change is rapidly deteriorating environmental conditions through droughts and floods, hurricanes, wildfires, rising temperatures, and more frequent and longer heatwaves. A growing literature has shown how higher temperatures reduce worker productivity and economic output. These effects are more pronounced in poorer countries and in climate-exposed economic sectors like agriculture, construction, and manufacturing. The development of new technologies that mitigate exposure to heat among workers, combined with better temperature control in the workplace, will be essential to reduce the economic burden of climate change.
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  • Environmental regulations and labor markets Updated

    Balancing the benefits of environmental regulations for everyone and the costs to workers and firms

    Olivier Deschenes, November 2018
    Environmental regulations such as air quality standards can lead to notable improvements in ambient air quality and to related health benefits. But they impose additional production costs on firms and may reduce productivity, earnings, and employment, especially in sectors exposed to trade and intensive in labor and energy. Growing empirical evidence suggests that the benefits are likely to outweigh the costs.
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