Mortality, Temperature, and Public Health Provision: Evidence from Mexico
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
vol. 14,
no. 2, May 2022
(pp. 161-92)
Abstract
We examine the impact of temperature on mortality in Mexico using daily data over the period 1998–2017 and find that 3.8 percent of deaths in Mexico are caused by suboptimal temperature (26,000 every year). However, 92 percent of weather-related deaths are induced by cold (<12 degrees C) or mildly cold (12–20 degrees C) days and only 2 percent by outstandingly hot days (>32 degrees C). Furthermore, temperatures are twice as likely to kill people in the bottom half of the income distribution. Finally, we show causal evidence that the Seguro Popular, a universal health care policy, has saved at least 1,600 lives per year from cold weather since 2004.Citation
Cohen, François, and Antoine Dechezleprêtre. 2022. "Mortality, Temperature, and Public Health Provision: Evidence from Mexico." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 14 (2): 161-92. DOI: 10.1257/pol.20180594Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I12 Health Behavior
- I13 Health Insurance, Public and Private
- I14 Health and Inequality
- O13 Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products
- O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
- Q54 Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming
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