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Climate Change Adaptation in Developing Countries: Constraints on Adaptation and Mechanisms for Relaxing Them

AAEA members present at 2020 ASSA Annual Meeting

As climate change accelerates, its impacts will be felt on agriculture around the globe. The IPCC predicts that it is likely or very likely that by the end of the century we will see increases in temperature, longer and more frequent heat waves, and longer and more frequent droughts (IPCC 2013). Increased temperatures, heat waves and droughts have all been shown to have negative impacts on agricultural yields (Mehrabi & Ramankutty 2017, Schlenker & Roberts 2009, Zampieri et al 2017). Agricultural households in low‐ and middle‐income countries are likely to suffer especially substantial damages, due to their location in low latitudes and their limited access to protective assets and infrastructure.

In an AAEA session taking place at the Allied Social Science Association’s Annual Meeting entitiled “Climate Change Adaptation in Developing Countries: Constraints on Adaptation and Mechanisms for Relaxing Them” three papers explore how households in Zambia, Bangladesh, and India may adapt to climate change and how policy interventions may enable more effective adaptation.

The organizer of the session, Vis Taraz from the Smith College says, “climate change is an urgent problem facing the entire globe, with especially dire implications for poor countries.  As economists, we have a moral imperative to understand the impacts of climate change and to analyze programs and policies that may mitigate the worst of these impacts.“

Papers in this session:

  • Credit Access, Migration, and Climate Change Adaptation in Rural Bangladesh
    Joyce Chen, The Ohio State University and Jon Einar Flatnes, The Ohio State University
  • Do Social Protection Programs Foster Short‐term and Long‐term Migration Adaptation Strategies?
    Valerie Mueller, Arizona State University, Clark Gray, UNC Chapel Hill, Sudhanshu Handa, UNC Chapel Hill, and David Seidenfeld, American Institutes of Research
  • Has climate change driven structural transformation in India?
    Maggie Liu, Smith College, Yogita Shamdasani, University of Pittsburgh, and Vis Taraz, Smith College

This session will take place on Saturday, January 4, from 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego. To attend this session please contact Allison Scheetz in the AAEA Business Office for your complimentary Media Registration.

ABOUT AAEA: Established in 1910, the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) is the leading professional association for agricultural and applied economists, with 2,500 members in more than 60 countries. Members of the AAEA work in academic or government institutions as well as in industry and not-for-profit organizations, and engage in a variety of research, teaching, and outreach activities in the areas of agriculture, the environment, food, health, and international development. The AAEA publishes two journals, the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, as well as the online magazine Choices and the online open access publication series Applied Economics Teaching Resources. To learn more, visit www.aaea.org.