Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
5-2024
Abstract
We use space-and-time resolved mobility data to assess how heat impacts Singapore, a rich city-state and arguably a harbinger of what is to come in the urbanizing tropics. Singapore’s offices, factories, malls, buses, and trains are widely air conditioned, its public schools less so. We document increased attendance and commuting to workplaces, malls, and the more air-conditioned schools on hotter relative to cooler days, particularly by low-income residents with limited use of adaptive technologies at home. Investment by rich cities may attenuate heat’s pervasive negative consequences on productive outcomes, yet this may worsen the climate emergency in the long run.
Keywords
Urban heat, adaptive technology, defensive behaviour, heterogeneous impact, resilienceof cities, tropics, climate change
Discipline
Economics | Urban Studies and Planning
Research Areas
Integrative Research Areas
Publication
Economic Journal
Volume
134
Issue
664
First Page
3445
Last Page
3460
ISSN
0013-0133
Identifier
10.1093/ej/ueae046
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Citation
FESSELMEYER, Eric; LIU, Haoming.; SALVO, Alberto.; and SIMORANGKIR, Rhita P B..
Heat and observed economic activity in the rich urban tropics. (2024). Economic Journal. 134, (664), 3445-3460.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cis_research/147
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueae046