It is no surprise that global warming will disproportionately affect countries with hot climates, which includes most low-income countries. However, new IMF research shows that a rise in temperature lowers a country’s per capita output over the long term. It reduces agricultural output, suppresses worker productivity, slows investment, and damages health.
Petia Topalova, deputy division chief at the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Research Department, joined SCEPA's Economics of Climate Change speaker series to discuss these findings and the necessary policy recommendations to help these countries cope with the adverse consequences of weather shocks and global warming. This includes investment in adaptation strategies as well as the sustained commitment of the international community in supporting low-income countries’ efforts to cope with climate change—a global threat to which they have contributed little.
Prem Shankar Jha, economist, writer and journalist, discussed the developing world’s progress using renewable energy.
Speakers:
Petia Topalova
Deputy Division Chief, Research Department, International Monetary Fund
Former Adjunct Lecturer, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Prem Shankar Jha
Economist, writer and journalist
Columnist, The Hindu, The Hindustan Times and The Times of India, among others
Visiting Scholar, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Harvard University and Nuffield College, Oxford
Former Information Advisor, Prime Minister of India
The event was hosted by SCEPA's Economics of Climate Change project, headed by economist Willi Semmler and generously supported by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation.
