Research

This study investigates how early-life exposure to weather shocks - droughts and excessive rainfalls - affects cognitive function and its decline after age 50 in China. Although extensive literature documents the immediate effects of environmental factors on early-life health and human capital, this study examines a longer exposure period - from in utero to age 15 - and its impacts on cognitive functions in later life. Exploiting both cross-sectional and longitudinal dimensions of the data, I find that the prenatal to age 4 period is particularly critical. A one-standard deviation increase in weather shocks during this period reduces cognitive scores by 0.05 standard deviations after age 50, equivalent to the cognitive decline typically observed over 1.5 years of aging. Moreover, prenatal weather shocks accelerate the slope of cognitive decline, which is observable only after age 65. I provide suggestive evidence that the effect transits through lower investment in children’s human capital.

This study aims at investigating the effect of high temperatures on cognitive functions of individuals aged 50 and over. The empirical analysis exploits longitudinal data from the SHARE Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe which is combined with measures of daily temperature collected by ground weather stations. Our estimates are based on an individual fixed-effect strategy and show that high temperatures impede the cognitive functions. Our results reveal a stronger effect for poorer individuals, those aged over 65 years as well as those who are overweight. The poorest elderly are the more vulnerable to global warming, which impacts their working memory and fluency. This may affect their capacity to make complex decisions and, in turn, negatively affect their standard of living. Thus, our results suggest that global warming could amplify socio-economic inequalities.

India’s substantial fertilizer consumption, a legacy of the Green Revolution, raises debates regarding its trade-offs between agricultural productivity and environmental and health concerns. Consumption of nitrate and nitrite has been linked to health issues like methemoglobinemia, a potentially fatal condition for infants. We utilize new data on agricultural practices, water pollution, and health outcomes to explore the relationship between fertilizer runoff, nitrogen concentration in water, and child mortality.