4 research outputs found
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Can Social Protection Reduce Environmental Damages?
Why do damages from changes in environmental quality differ across and within countries? Causal investigation of this question has been challenging because differences may stem from heterogeneity in cumulative exposure or differences in socioeconomic factors such as income. We revisit the temperature-violence relationship and show that cash transfers attenuate one-half to two-thirds of the effects of higher same-day temperatures on homicides. Our results not only demonstrate causally that income can explain much of the heterogeneity in the marginal effects of higher temperatures, but also imply that social protection programs can help the poor adapt to rising temperatures
Recommended from our members
Can Social Protection Reduce Environmental Damages?
Why do damages from changes in environmental quality differ across and within countries? Causal investigation of this question has been challenging because differences may stem from heterogeneity in cumulative exposure or differences in socioeconomic factors such as income. We revisit the temperature-violence relationship and show that cash transfers attenuate one-half to two-thirds of the effects of higher same-day temperatures on homicides. Our results not only demonstrate causally that income can explain much of the heterogeneity in the marginal effects of higher temperatures, but also imply that social protection programs can help the poor adapt to rising temperatures
Socioeconomic disparities in mobility behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries
Mobile phone data have played a key role in quantifying human mobility during
the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing studies on mobility patterns have primarily
focused on regional aggregates in high-income countries, obfuscating the
accentuated impact of the pandemic on the most vulnerable populations. By
combining geolocation data from mobile phones and population census for 6
middle-income countries across 3 continents between March and December 2020, we
uncovered common disparities in the behavioral response to the pandemic across
socioeconomic groups. When the pandemic hit, urban users living in low-wealth
neighborhoods were less likely to respond by self-isolating at home, relocating
to rural areas, or refraining from commuting to work. The gap in the behavioral
responses between socioeconomic groups persisted during the entire observation
period. Among low-wealth users, those who used to commute to work in
high-wealth neighborhoods pre-pandemic were particularly at risk, facing both
the reduction in activity in high-wealth neighborhood and being more likely to
be affected by public transport closures due to their longer commute. While
confinement policies were predominantly country-wide, these results suggest a
role for place-based policies informed by mobility data to target aid to the
most vulnerable