Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP13989
Authors: Olga Popova; Vladimir Otrachshenko; Jos Tavares
Abstract: We examine the relationship between extreme temperatures and violent mortality across Russianregions, with implications for the social costs of climate change. We assess the unequal impactof temperature shocks across gender and age groups by exploring a dataset on temperature andviolence in Russia, between the years 1989 and 2015. Hot days lead to an increase in both femaleand male victims, one hot day resulting in the loss of 1,579 person-years of life for men, and 642for women. However, the likelihood of victimization during weekends rises noticeably forwomen, with women between 25 and 59 more victimized on weekends. Our results suggest thatfemale victimization on hot days would be mitigated by increases in regional income and jobopportunities, and on cold days, by decreasing the consumption of spirits.
Keywords: violence; gender; homicide; extreme temperatures; Russia
JEL Codes: I14; K42; P52; Q54
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| increases in regional income and job opportunities (R11) | mitigate female victimization on hot days (H84) |
| cold days (Y60) | decrease in violence (D74) |
| weekends (G14) | increase in likelihood of victimization (K42) |
| average temperature above 25°C (Q54) | increase in violent mortality rates (I12) |
| average temperature above 25°C (Q54) | increase in female victims (J12) |
| average temperature above 25°C (Q54) | increase in male victims (H84) |