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Climate change and interpersonal violence: a “global” estimate and regional inequities

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  • Dennis Mares
  • Kenneth Moffett

Abstract

This study estimates the predicted impact of climate change on levels of violence in a sample of 57 countries. We sample western and non-western countries and perform a multilevel ARFIMA regression to examine if warmer temperatures are associated with higher levels of homicide. Our results indicate that each degree Celsius increase in annual temperatures is associated with a nearly 6 % average increase in homicides. Regional variation in this predicted effect is detected, for example, with no apparent effects in former Soviet countries and far stronger effects found in Africa. Such variation indicates that climate change may acutely increase violence in areas that already are affected by higher levels of homicides and other social dislocations. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

Suggested Citation

  • Dennis Mares & Kenneth Moffett, 2016. "Climate change and interpersonal violence: a “global” estimate and regional inequities," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 135(2), pages 297-310, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:135:y:2016:i:2:p:297-310
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-015-1566-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Cathy W. S. Chen & Sangyeol Lee, 2017. "Bayesian causality test for integer-valued time series models with applications to climate and crime data," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 66(4), pages 797-814, August.
    2. Alice J. Sommer & Mihye Lee & Marie-Abèle C. Bind, 2018. "Comparing apples to apples: an environmental criminology analysis of the effects of heat and rain on violent crimes in Boston," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Dennis Mares & Emily Blackburn, 2019. "Major League Baseball and Crime: Opportunity, Spatial Patterns, and Team Rivalry at St. Louis Cardinal Games," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(7), pages 875-902, October.

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