Hostname: page-component-669899f699-8p65j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-02T06:36:54.942Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Exposure to climate shocks, poverty and household well-being

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2024

Leonardo Becchetti Open the ORCID record for Leonardo Becchetti [Opens in a new window] ,
Sara Mancini  and
Sara Savastano
Leonardo Becchetti*
Affiliation:
University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
Sara Mancini
Affiliation:
University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
Sara Savastano
Affiliation:
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Rome, Italy
*
*Corresponding author: Leonardo Becchetti; Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We evaluate the impact of climate shocks on the well-being of farmer households in a Small Island Developing State in the Pacific, the Solomon Islands. We find that both subjective (self-assessed exposure to climate shocks) and objective (number of past dry spells) indicators of environmental stress significantly reduce the quality of life among households. Household well-being is more severely affected for farmers living in poor dwellings (e.g., those with thatched roofs signaling shelters less resistant to environmental shocks), with below median income or durable assets, living in isolated areas and not being members of agricultural associations. Furthermore, households affected by climate shocks experience a significantly higher proportion of nutritional problems. These findings support the hypothesis of a strong correlation between climate shocks, household well-being and nutritional status, advocating for the relevance of global climate adaptation policies such as loss and damage funds, as well as prevention strategies.

Keywords

climate shocknutritionSmall Island Developing Statesubjective well-being

JEL classification

Q01: Sustainable Development I31: General Welfare, Well-Being Q20: General
Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 29 , Issue 5 , October 2024 , pp. 426 - 455
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Ahmadiani, M and Ferreira, S (2021) Well-being effects of extreme weather events in the United States. Resource and Energy Economics 64, 101213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alem, Y and Colmer, J (2022) Blame it on the rain: rainfall variability, consumption smoothing, and subjective well-being in rural Ethiopia. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 104, 905–920.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnett, J (2011) Dangerous climate change in the pacific islands: food production and food security. Regional Environmental Change 11, 229–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becchetti, L, Bachelet, M and Riccardini, F (2018) Not feeling well… true or exaggerated? Self-assessed health as a leading health indicator. Health Economics 27, e153–e170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Becchetti, L, Pelloni, A and Rossetti, F (2008) Relational goods, sociability, and happiness. Kyklos 61, 343–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berlemann, M and Eurich, M (2022) Natural disasters and self-reported well-being: a review of the literature. In Skidmore M (ed), Handbook on the Economics of Disasters, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 230–251.Google Scholar
Birk, T (2012) Relocation of reef and atoll island communities as an adaptation to climate change: learning from experience in Solomon Islands. In Hastrup, K and Fog Olwig, K (eds), Climate Change and Human Mobility, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 81–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birk, T and Rasmussen, K (2014) Migration from atolls as climate change adaptation: current practices, barriers and options in Solomon Islands. Natural Resources Forum 38, 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blanchflower, DG (2021) Is happiness u-shaped everywhere? Age and subjective well-being in 145 countries. Journal of Population Economics 34, 575–624.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Briguglio, L (1995) Small island developing states and their economic vulnerabilities. World Development 23, 1615–1632.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruni, L and Stanca, L (2008) Watching alone: relational goods, television and happiness. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 65, 506–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, N, Frijters, P and Shields, MA (2009) Quantifying the costs of drought: new evidence from life satisfaction data. Journal of Population Economics 22, 445–461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, AE, Frijters, P and Shields, MA (2006) Income and happiness: evidence, explanations and economic implications. PSE Working Papers halshs-00590436, HAL.Google Scholar
Coleman, P and Kroenke, L (1981) Subduction without volcanism in the Solomon Islands arc. Geo-Marine Letters 1, 129–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CSIRO (2020) Climate change information for the Pacific. Available at https://www.csiro.au/en/research/environmental-impacts/climate-change/pacificclimate-change-info.Google Scholar
Diener, E and Lucas, RE (1999) Personality and subjective well-being. In Diener E, Kahneman D and Schwarz N. (eds), Well-being: Foundations of Hedonic Psychology, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 213–229.Google Scholar
Dolan, P and Laffan, K (2016) Bad air days: the effects of air quality on different measures of subjective well-being. Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis 7, 147–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrante, F (2009) Education, aspirations and life satisfaction. Kyklos 62, 542–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferreira, S, Akay, A, Brereton, F, Cuñado, J, Martinsson, P, Moro, M and Ningal, TF (2013) Life satisfaction and air quality in Europe. Ecological Economics 88, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrer-i Carbonell, A and Frijters, P (2004) How important is methodology for the estimates of the determinants of happiness?. The Economic Journal 114, 641–659.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frey, BS and Stutzer, A (2005) Beyond outcomes: measuring procedural utility. Oxford Economic Papers 57, 90–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frey, BS, Benz, M and Stutzer, A (2004) Introducing procedural utility: not only what, but also how matters. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE)/Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft 160, 377–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frijters, P (2000) Do individuals try to maximize general satisfaction?. Journal of Economic Psychology 21, 281–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fritz, HM and Kalligeris, N (2008) Ancestral heritage saves tribes during 1 April 2007 Solomon Islands tsunami. Geophysical Research Letters 35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fujiwara, D, Lawton, RN and MacKerron, G (2017) Experience sampling in and around airports. Momentary subjective wellbeing, airports, and aviation noise in England. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 56, 43–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunby, N and Coupé, T (2023) Weather-related home damage and subjective well-being. Environmental and Resource Economics 84, 409–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahneman, D, Fredrickson, BL, Schreiber, CA and Redelmeier, DA (1993) When more pain is preferred to less: adding a better end. Psychological Science 4, 401–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaiser, C and Oswald, AJ (2022) The scientific value of numerical measures of human feelings. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119, e2210412119.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keen, M and McNeil, A (2016) After the floods: urban displacement, lessons from Solomon Islands. State Society and Governance in Melanesia In Brief 2016/13, Australian National University, Canberra.Google Scholar
Kimball, M, Levy, H, Ohtake, F and Tsutsui, Y (2006) Unhappiness after hurricane Katrina. National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 12062.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lal, PN, Rita, R and Khatri, N (2009) Economic costs of the 2009 floods in the Fiji sugar belt and policy implications. Switzerland: IUCN.Google Scholar
Leal Filho, W, Ha'apio, MO, Lütz, JM and Li, C (2020) Climate change adaptation as a development challenge to small island states: a case study from the Solomon Islands. Environmental Science & Policy 107, 79–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, H, Calvin, K, Dasgupta, D, Krinner, G, Mukherji, A, Thorne, P, Trisos, C, Romero, J, Aldunce, P, Barrett, K et al. (2023) Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Geneva: IPCC.Google Scholar
Lohmann, P, Pondorfer, A and Rehdanz, K (2019) Natural hazards and well-being in a small-scale island society. Ecological Economics 159, 344–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luechinger, S (2010) Life satisfaction and transboundary air pollution. Economics Letters 107, 4–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luechinger, S and Raschky, PA (2009) Valuing flood disasters using the life satisfaction approach. Journal of Public Economics 93, 620–633.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maddison, D and Rehdanz, K (2011) The impact of climate on life satisfaction. Ecological Economics 70, 2437–2445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, T, Maddison, D and Rehdanz, K (2013) Do geographical variations in climate influence life-satisfaction?. Climate Change Economics 4, 1350004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nurse, LA, McLean, RF, Agard, J, Briguglio, LP, Duvat-Magnan, V, Pelesikoti, N, Tompkins, E and Webb, A (2014) Small islands. In Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part B: Regional Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Barros VR, Field CB, Dokken DJ, Mastrandrea MD, Mach KJ, Bilir TE, Chatterjee M, Ebi KL, Estrada YO, Genova RC, Girma B, Kissel ES, Levy AN, MacCracken S, Mastrandrea PR and White LL (eds)], Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1613–1654.Google Scholar
Odermatt, R and Stutzer, A (2019) (Mis-)predicted subjective well-being following life events. Journal of the European Economic Association 17, 245–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pavot, W, Diener, E, Colvin, CR and Sandvik, E (1991) Further validation of the satisfaction with life scale: evidence for the cross-method convergence of well-being measures. Journal of Personality Assessment 57, 149–161.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rahman, MS, Andriatmoko, ND, Saeri, M, Subagio, H, Malik, A, Triastono, J, Oelviani, R, Kilmanun, JC, da Silva, H, Pesireron, M, et al. (2022) Climate disasters and subjective well-being among urban and rural residents in Indonesia. Sustainability 14, 3383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ravallion, M, Chen, S and Sangraula, P (2009) Dollar a day revisited. The World Bank Economic Review 23, 163–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rehdanz, K and Maddison, D (2005) Climate and happiness. Ecological Economics 52, 111–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandvik, E, Diener, E and Seidlitz, L (1993) Subjective well-being: the convergence and stability of self-report and non-self-report measures. Journal of Personality 61, 317–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sapkota, JB (2018) Human well-being after 2015 Nepal earthquake: micro-evidence from one of the hardest hit rural villages. International Journal of Sustainable Development 21, 54–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scandurra, G, Romano, A, Ronghi, M and Carfora, A (2018) On the vulnerability of small island developing states: a dynamic analysis. Ecological Indicators 84, 382–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shedler, J, Mayman, M and Manis, M (1993) The illusion of mental health. American Psychologist 48, 1117–1131.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shiv, B and Huber, J (2000) The impact of anticipating satisfaction on consumer choice. Journal of Consumer Research 27, 202–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van de Vliert, E, Huang, X and Parker, PM (2004) Do colder and hotter climates make richer societies more, but poorer societies less, happy and altruistic?. Journal of Environmental Psychology 24, 17–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Praag, BM and Baarsma, BE (2005) Using happiness surveys to value intangibles: the case of airport noise. The Economic Journal 115, 224–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
von Möllendorff, C and Hirschfeld, J (2016) Measuring impacts of extreme weather events using the life satisfaction approach. Ecological Economics 121, 108–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welsch, H (2006) Environment and happiness: valuation of air pollution using life satisfaction data. Ecological Economics 58, 801–813.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Bank (2020) Global Economic Prospects. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Zhang, L, Li, L, Zou, Y, Wang, K, Jiang, X and Ju, H (2017) Force control strategy and bench press experimental research of a cable driven astronaut rehabilitative training robot. IEEE Access 5, 9981–9989.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Becchetti et al. supplementary material

Becchetti et al. supplementary material
Download Becchetti et al. supplementary material(File)
File 127.9 KB