Climate Change, Growth and Infrastructure Investment: The Case of Mozambique

TY - JOUR

T1 - Climate Change, Growth and Infrastructure Investment

T2 - The Case of Mozambique

AU - Arndt, Channing

AU - Chinowsky, Paul

AU - Strzepek, Kenneth

AU - Thurlow, James

PY - 2012/8

Y1 - 2012/8

N2 - Climate change may damage road infrastructure, to the potential detriment of economic growth, particularly in developing countries. To quantitatively assess climate change's consequences, we incorporate a climate-infrastructure model based on stressor-response relationships directly into a recursive dynamic economy-wide model to estimate and compare road damages with other climate change impact channels. We apply this framework to Mozambique and simulate four future climate scenarios. Our results indicate that climate change through 2050 is likely to place a drag on economic growth and development prospects. The economic implications of climate change appear to become more pronounced from about 2030. Nevertheless, the implications are not so strong as to drastically diminish development prospects. Our findings suggest that impact assessments should include damages to long-run assets, such as road infrastructure, imposed by climate change.

AB - Climate change may damage road infrastructure, to the potential detriment of economic growth, particularly in developing countries. To quantitatively assess climate change's consequences, we incorporate a climate-infrastructure model based on stressor-response relationships directly into a recursive dynamic economy-wide model to estimate and compare road damages with other climate change impact channels. We apply this framework to Mozambique and simulate four future climate scenarios. Our results indicate that climate change through 2050 is likely to place a drag on economic growth and development prospects. The economic implications of climate change appear to become more pronounced from about 2030. Nevertheless, the implications are not so strong as to drastically diminish development prospects. Our findings suggest that impact assessments should include damages to long-run assets, such as road infrastructure, imposed by climate change.

U2 - 10.1111/j.1467-9361.2012.00674.x

DO - 10.1111/j.1467-9361.2012.00674.x

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1363-6669

VL - 16

SP - 463

EP - 475

JO - Review of Development Economics

JF - Review of Development Economics

IS - 3

ER -