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Adaptation to Climate Change in 172 Countries: the Importance of Intelligence

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  • Omang Ombolo Messono

    (University of Douala)

  • Nsoga Nsoga Mermoz Homère

    (University of Yaoundé II-Soa)

Abstract

A large body of literature examines the determinants of countries’ vulnerability to climate change, focusing on human capital in terms of educational attainment. The role that individual intellectual coefficients might play in the ability to adapt to these changes has not yet been studied. Our study attempts to fill this gap in the literature by setting itself the specific objective of analyzing the effect of the intellectual coefficient on vulnerability to climate change. Using ordinary least square (OLS) and two-stage least square (2SLS) in a cross-section with data from 171 countries between 1995 and 2020, we show that increasing the intelligence coefficient reduces vulnerability to climate change both directly and indirectly. The strongest indirect effects occur through social adaptation. These results are robust to the use of additional controls such as geographic, economic, and historical confounders and social and cultural characteristics. Vulnerability to climate change analysis may take these findings into account and incorporate intellectual coefficient into the design of the international social policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Omang Ombolo Messono & Nsoga Nsoga Mermoz Homère, 2024. "Adaptation to Climate Change in 172 Countries: the Importance of Intelligence," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 4858-4885, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:jknowl:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s13132-023-01345-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s13132-023-01345-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Intelligence; Vulnerability; Climate change; Social readiness;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital

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