Abstract
This paper tests whether climate has an impact on per capita rural income. The study finds that total (agricultural and nonagricultural) income in rural counties and municipios in the US and Brazil are affected by climate. The study demonstrates that this income effect is due to changes in the net value of agriculture. Regions with better climates for agriculture support higher rural incomes and regions with poor climates have more rural poverty. The results also suggest that global warming will likely increase rural poverty.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Basist, A., Peterson, N., Peterson, T., and Williams, C.: 1998, ‘Using the special sensor microwave imager to monitor land surface temperature, wetness, and snow cover’, J. Appl. Meteor. 37, 888–911.
Basist, A., Williams Jr., C., Grody, N., Ross, T. E., Shen, S., Chang, A., Ferraro, R., Menne, M. J.: 2001, ‘Using the special sensor microwave imager to monitor surface wetness’, J. of Hydrometeorology 2, 297–308.
Bloom, D. and Sachs, J.: 1998, ‘Geography, demography, and economic growth in africa’, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 2, 207–295.
Bryceson, D.: 2002, ‘The scramble in Africa: Reorienting rural livelihoods’, World Development 30, 725–739.
David, C. and Otsuka, K. (eds.): 1994, Modern Rice Technology and Income Distribution in Asia. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
Ellis, F.: 2000, ‘The determinants of rural livelihood diversification in developing countries’, Journal of Agricultural Economics 51, 289–302.
Lanjouw, J. and Lanjouw, P.: 1995, ‘Rural nonfarm employment: A survey’, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 1463, World Bank, Washington DC.
Mendelsohn, R. and Dinar, A.: 2003, ‘Climate, water, and agriculture’, Land Economics 79, 328–341.
Mendelsohn, R. and Nordhaus, W.: 1996, ‘The impact of global warming on agriculture: Reply’, American Economic Review 86, 1312–1315.
Mendelsohn, R. and Nordhaus, W.: 1999, ‘Reply to Quiggin and Horowitz’, American Economic Review 89, 1046–1048.
Mendelsohn, R., Nordhaus, W., and Shaw, D.: 1994, ‘The impact of global warming on agriculture: A ricardian analysis’, American Economic Review 84, 753–771.
Mendelsohn, R., Nordhaus, W., and Shaw, D.: 1996, ‘Climate impacts on aggregate farm values: Accounting for adaptation’, Agriculture and Forest Meteorology 80, 55–67.
Mendelsohn, R., Dinar, A., and Sanghi, A.: 2001, ‘The effect of development on the climate sensitivity of agriculture’, Environment and Development Economics 6, 85–101.
Reardon, T.: 1997, ‘Using evidence of household income diversification to inform study of the rural nonfarm labor market in Africa’, World Development 25, 735–747.
Reilly, J., et al.: 1996, ‘Agriculture in a changing climate: Impacts and adaptations’, in Watson, R., Zinyowera, M., Moss, R., and Dokken, D. (eds.), IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), Climate Change 1995: Impacts, Adaptations, and Mitigation of Climate Change: Scientific-Technical Analyses Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Sachs, J. and Warner, D.: 1997, ‘Sources of slow growth in african economies’, J. of African Economies 6, 335–376.
Sanghi, A.: 1998, ‘Global Warming and Climate Sensitivity: Brazilian & Indian Agriculture.’ Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Economics, University of Chicago, Chicago.
Weiss, H. and Bradley, R.: 2001. ‘What drives societal collapse?’, Science 291, 609–610.
World Bank: 2003, Reaching the Rural Poor: A Renewed Strategy for Rural Development, Washington DC: World Bank.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mendelsohn, R., Basist, A., Kurukulasuriya, P. et al. Climate and Rural Income. Climatic Change 81, 101–118 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-005-9010-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-005-9010-5