IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/soceco/v106y2023ics2214804323000915.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Temperature, health and wellbeing in Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Hailemariam, Abebe
  • Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa
  • Appau, Samuelson

Abstract

We examine the effects of temperature on general health and subjective wellbeing. We combine daily temperature data with 19 waves of panel data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey. We find evidence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between temperature and general health. However, the effect of temperature on subjective wellbeing is less robust. We examine whether the adoption of air conditioning technology moderates the observed relationship between temperature and health. Our results show that there is no robust evidence for the role of air conditioning in moderating the relationship between temperature and health/wellbeing. Further, we conducted a mediation analysis to examine whether sleep quality serves as a channel through which the effect of temperature transmits to health. We find little evidence in support of sleep quality as a mechanism.

Suggested Citation

  • Hailemariam, Abebe & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Appau, Samuelson, 2023. "Temperature, health and wellbeing in Australia," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:106:y:2023:i:c:s2214804323000915
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2023.102065
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214804323000915
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socec.2023.102065?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joan Costa‐Font & Sarah Fleche & Ricardo Pagan, 2024. "The welfare effects of time reallocation: evidence from Daylight Saving Time," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 91(362), pages 547-568, April.
    2. Drydakis, Nick, 2015. "The effect of unemployment on self-reported health and mental health in Greece from 2008 to 2013: A longitudinal study before and during the financial crisis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 43-51.
    3. Deschenes, Olivier, 2014. "Temperature, human health, and adaptation: A review of the empirical literature," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 606-619.
    4. Olivier Deschênes & Michael Greenstone, 2011. "Climate Change, Mortality, and Adaptation: Evidence from Annual Fluctuations in Weather in the US," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 152-185, October.
    5. Buddelmeyer, Hielke & Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2016. "Can having internal locus of control insure against negative shocks? Psychological evidence from panel data," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 88-109.
    6. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2019. "Transport poverty and subjective wellbeing," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 40-54.
    7. Brian Jacob & Lars Lefgren & Enrico Moretti, 2007. "The Dynamics of Criminal Behavior: Evidence from Weather Shocks," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(3).
    8. Giuntella, Osea & Mazzonna, Fabrizio, 2019. "Sunset time and the economic effects of social jetlag: evidence from US time zone borders," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 210-226.
    9. Frijters, Paul & Lalji, Chitwan & Pakrashi, Debayan, 2020. "Daily weather only has small effects on wellbeing in the US," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 747-762.
    10. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Vinod Mishra, 2017. "Trust, Social Networks and Subjective Wellbeing in China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 313-339, May.
    11. Samuelson Appau & Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Lisa Farrell, 2019. "Social integration and subjective wellbeing," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(16), pages 1748-1761, April.
    12. Rehdanz, Katrin & Maddison, David, 2005. "Climate and happiness," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 111-125, January.
      • Katrin Rehdanz & David J. Maddison, 2003. "Climate and Happiness," Working Papers FNU-20, Research unit Sustainability and Global Change, Hamburg University, revised Apr 2003.
    13. Richard S J Tol, 2018. "The Economic Impacts of Climate Change," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 12(1), pages 4-25.
    14. Mullins, Jamie T. & White, Corey, 2020. "Can access to health care mitigate the effects of temperature on mortality?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    15. Austin C. Smith, 2016. "Spring Forward at Your Own Risk: Daylight Saving Time and Fatal Vehicle Crashes," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 65-91, April.
    16. Hale, Lauren & Hill, Terrence D. & Friedman, Elliot & Javier Nieto, F. & Galvao, Loren W. & Engelman, Corinne D. & Malecki, Kristen M.C. & Peppard, Paul E., 2013. "Perceived neighborhood quality, sleep quality, and health status: Evidence from the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 16-22.
    17. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell & Trinh, Trong-Anh, 2022. "Energy poverty, temperature and climate change," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    18. Powdthavee, Nattavudh & Wooden, Mark, 2015. "Life satisfaction and sexual minorities: Evidence from Australia and the United Kingdom," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 107-126.
    19. Alan Barreca & Karen Clay & Olivier Deschenes & Michael Greenstone & Joseph S. Shapiro, 2016. "Adapting to Climate Change: The Remarkable Decline in the US Temperature-Mortality Relationship over the Twentieth Century," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(1), pages 105-159.
    20. Hailemariam, Abebe & Yew, Siew Ling & Appau, Samuelson, 2021. "Gender health gaps: The role of risky addictive behaviors," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 639-660.
    21. repec:hal:journl:halshs-04206107 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Melissa Dell & Benjamin F. Jones & Benjamin A. Olken, 2014. "What Do We Learn from the Weather? The New Climate-Economy Literature," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(3), pages 740-798, September.
    23. Trinh, Trong-Anh & Appau, Samuelson & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Farrell, Lisa, 2022. "Temperature shocks and gambling," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    24. Olivier Deschênes & Michael Greenstone, 2007. "The Economic Impacts of Climate Change: Evidence from Agricultural Output and Random Fluctuations in Weather," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 354-385, March.
    25. repec:hal:pseptp:halshs-04206107 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Nick Obradovich & James H. Fowler, 2017. "Climate change may alter human physical activity patterns," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 1(5), pages 1-7, May.
    27. Maximilian Auffhammer & Solomon M. Hsiang & Wolfram Schlenker & Adam Sobel, 2013. "Using Weather Data and Climate Model Output in Economic Analyses of Climate Change," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 7(2), pages 181-198, July.
    28. Olivier Deschenes & Michael Greenstone & Jonathan Guryan, 2009. "Climate Change and Birth Weight," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 211-217, May.
    29. Mengyao Li & Susana Ferreira & Travis A Smith, 2020. "Temperature and self-reported mental health in the United States," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(3), pages 1-20, March.
    30. Solomon Hsiang, 2016. "Climate Econometrics," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 43-75, October.
    31. Marie Connolly, 2013. "Some Like It Mild and Not Too Wet: The Influence of Weather on Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 457-473, April.
    32. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell & Farrell, Lisa, 2020. "Fuel poverty and subjective wellbeing," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    33. Easterlin, Richard A, 2001. "Income and Happiness: Towards an Unified Theory," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(473), pages 465-484, July.
    34. Obradovich, Nicholas & Fowler, James H., 2017. "Climate change may alter human physical activity patterns," Scholarly Articles 36874928, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    35. Prakash, Kushneel & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2020. "Petrol prices and subjective wellbeing," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    36. Mullins, Jamie T. & White, Corey, 2019. "Temperature and mental health: Evidence from the spectrum of mental health outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    37. Richard S. J. Tol, 2009. "The Economic Effects of Climate Change," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(2), pages 29-51, Spring.
    38. Maximilian Auffhammer & V. Ramanathan & Jeffrey Vincent, 2012. "Climate change, the monsoon, and rice yield in India," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 111(2), pages 411-424, March.
    39. Melissa Dell & Benjamin F. Jones & Benjamin A. Olken, 2012. "Temperature Shocks and Economic Growth: Evidence from the Last Half Century," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 66-95, July.
    40. Clemens Noelke & Mark E. McGovern & Daniel J. Corsi & Marcia Pescador-Jimenez & Ari Stern & Ian Sue Wing & Lisa Berkman, 2016. "Increasing Ambient Temperature Reduces Emotional Well-Being," CHaRMS Working Papers 16-01, Centre for HeAlth Research at the Management School (CHaRMS).
    41. Burke, M. & Craxton, M. & Kolstad, C.D. & Onda, C. & Allcott, H. & Baker, E. & Barrage, L. & Carson, R. & Gillingham, K. & Graff-Zivin, J. & Greenstone, M. & Hallegatte, S. & Hanemann, W.M. & Heal, G., 2016. "Opportunities for advances in climate change economics," ISU General Staff Papers 3565, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    42. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2021. "Energy poverty and health: Panel data evidence from Australia," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    43. Burke, M & Craxton, M & Kolstad, CD & Onda, C & Allcott, H & Baker, E & Barrage, L & Carson, R & Gillingham, K & Graf-Zivin, J & Greenstone, M & Hallegatte, S & Hanemann, WM & Heal, G & Hsiang, S & Jo, 2016. "Opportunities for advances in climate change economics," University of California at Santa Barbara, Recent Works in Economics qt4tc5d9pb, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara.
    44. Solomon M. Hsiang, 2016. "Climate Econometrics," NBER Working Papers 22181, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    45. Jin, Lawrence & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2020. "Sleep, health, and human capital: Evidence from daylight saving time," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 174-192.
    46. Jamie T. Mullins & Prashant Bharadwaj, 2021. "Weather, Climate, and Migration in the United States," NBER Working Papers 28614, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    47. Ahmad Reza Hosseinpoor & Jennifer Stewart Williams & Avni Amin & Islene Araujo de Carvalho & John Beard & Ties Boerma & Paul Kowal & Nirmala Naidoo & Somnath Chatterji, 2012. "Social Determinants of Self-Reported Health in Women and Men: Understanding the Role of Gender in Population Health," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(4), pages 1-9, April.
    48. Levy, Ori & Galili, Itai, 2008. "Stock purchase and the weather: Individual differences," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 67(3-4), pages 755-767, September.
    49. Bobak, Martin & Pikhart, Hynek & Hertzman, Clyde & Rose, Richard & Marmot, Michael, 1998. "Socioeconomic factors, perceived control and self-reported health in Russia. A cross-sectional survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 269-279, July.
    50. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Russell Smyth & Trong‐Anh Trinh, 2023. "Crime, Weather and Climate Change in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 99(324), pages 84-107, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Munyanyi, Musharavati Ephraim & Trinh, Trong-Anh & Wiklund, Johan, 2024. "From disastrous heat waves to extreme rains: Effects of weather shocks on entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    2. Aatishya Mohanty & Nattavudh Powdthavee & Cheng Keat Tang & Andrew J. Oswald, 2024. "Temperature Variability and Natural Disasters," Papers 2409.14936, arXiv.org.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mullins, Jamie T. & White, Corey, 2019. "Temperature and mental health: Evidence from the spectrum of mental health outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    2. Benedikt Janzen, 2022. "Temperature and Mental Health: Evidence from Helpline Calls," Papers 2207.04992, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2022.
    3. Frijters, Paul & Lalji, Chitwan & Pakrashi, Debayan, 2020. "Daily weather only has small effects on wellbeing in the US," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 747-762.
    4. Filomena, Mattia & Picchio, Matteo, 2024. "Unsafe temperatures, unsafe jobs: The impact of weather conditions on work-related injuries," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 851-875.
    5. Richard S.J. Tol, 2020. "The Economic Impact of Weather and Climate," Video Library 2094, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    6. Bento, Antonio M. & Miller, Noah & Mookerjee, Mehreen & Severnini, Edson, 2023. "A unifying approach to measuring climate change impacts and adaptation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    7. Emediegwu, Lotanna E. & Wossink, Ada & Hall, Alastair, 2022. "The impacts of climate change on agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa: A spatial panel data approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    8. Kahn, Matthew E. & Mohaddes, Kamiar & Ng, Ryan N.C. & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Raissi, Mehdi & Yang, Jui-Chung, 2021. "Long-term macroeconomic effects of climate change: A cross-country analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    9. Hajdu, Tamás, 2024. "Temperature exposure and sleep duration: Evidence from time use surveys," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    10. Duan, Hongbo & Yuan, Deyu & Cai, Zongwu & Wang, Shouyang, 2022. "Valuing the impact of climate change on China’s economic growth," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 155-174.
    11. Baylis, Patrick, 2020. "Temperature and temperament: Evidence from Twitter," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    12. Aatishya Mohanty & Nattavudh Powdthavee & Cheng Keat Tang & Andrew J. Oswald, 2024. "Temperature Variability and Natural Disasters," Papers 2409.14936, arXiv.org.
    13. Kalkuhl, Matthias & Wenz, Leonie, 2020. "The impact of climate conditions on economic production. Evidence from a global panel of regions," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    14. Emediegwu, Lotanna E. & Ubabukoh, Chisom L., 2023. "Re-examining the impact of annual weather fluctuations on global livestock production," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(PA).
    15. Sam Cosaert & Adrián Nieto & Konstantinos Tatsiramos, 2023. "Temperature and Joint Time Use," CESifo Working Paper Series 10464, CESifo.
    16. Siganos, Antonios, 2024. "Climate theory & managerial decisions on cross-border mergers," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(1).
    17. Chang, Jun-Jie & Mi, Zhifu & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2023. "Temperature and GDP: A review of climate econometrics analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 383-392.
    18. Hajdu, Tamás & Hajdu, Gábor, 2023. "Climate change and the mortality of the unborn," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    19. Cosaert, Sam & Nieto Castro, Adrian & Tatsiramos, Konstantinos, 2023. "Temperature and the Timing of Work," IZA Discussion Papers 16480, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Bhaskar Jyoti Neog, 2022. "Temperature shocks and rural labour markets: evidence from India," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 1-20, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Temperature; Weather; Climate change; General health; Wellbeing; Australia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:106:y:2023:i:c:s2214804323000915. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620175 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.