The perils of climate change: In utero exposure to temperature variability and birth outcomes in the Andean region

Oswaldo Molina, Victor Saldarriaga

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle in a journalpeer-review

52 Scopus citations

Abstract

However, less attention has been paid to the effect of increased climate variability on health. We investigate how in utero exposure to temperature variability, measured as the fluctuations relative to the historical local temperature mean, affects birth outcomes in the Andean region. Our results suggest that exposure to a temperate one standard deviation relative to the municipality's long-term temperature mean during pregnancy reduces birth weight by 20 g. and increases the probability a child is born with low birth weight by a 0.7 percentage point. We also explore potential channels driving our results and find some evidence that increased temperature variability can lead to a decrease in health care and increased food insecurity during pregnancy.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)111-124
Number of pages14
JournalEconomics and Human Biology
Volume24
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Feb 2017

Keywords

  • Birth weight
  • Climate change
  • Health
  • Temperature variability

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