Can Social Protection Reduce Environmental Damages?

50 Pages Posted: 23 Oct 2019 Last revised: 7 May 2020

See all articles by Teevrat Garg

Teevrat Garg

School of Global Policy and Strategy, UCSD

Gordon C. McCord

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - School of Global Policy & Strategy

Aleister Montfort

World Bank

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: April 29, 2020

Abstract

Why do damages from changes in environmental quality differ across and within countries? Causal investigation of this question has been challenging because differences may stem from heterogeneity in cumulative exposure or differences in socioeconomic factors such as income. We revisit the temperature-violence relationship and show that cash transfers attenuate one-half to two-thirds of the effects of higher same-day temperatures on homicides. Our results not only demonstrate causally that income can explain much of the heterogeneity in the marginal effects of higher temperatures, but also imply that social protection programs can help the poor adapt to rising temperatures.

JEL Classification: H40, Q54, Q56, O15

Suggested Citation

Garg, Teevrat and McCord, Gordon C. and Montfort, Aleister, Can Social Protection Reduce Environmental Damages? (April 29, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3465356 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3465356

Teevrat Garg (Contact Author)

School of Global Policy and Strategy, UCSD ( email )

9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093-0519
United States

Gordon C. McCord

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - School of Global Policy & Strategy ( email )

9500 Gilman Drive #0519
La Jolla, CA 92093-0519
United States

Aleister Montfort

World Bank ( email )

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