Quantifying the Impacts of Weather and Climate
Challenge
The impact of weather on the US economy is large, but difficult to measure.
Solution
U.S. Economic Sensitivity to Weather Variability – A 2011 economic study by Jeff Lazo et al. indicated that the inter-annual aggregate dollar variation in U.S. economic activity that is attributable to weather variability could be 3.4%, or $485 billion of the 2008 gross domestic product.
Benefits
From very local short-term decisions about whether or not to pour concrete to broader decisions of when to plant or harvest a field, this report demonstrates how weather can have positive or negative effects on economic activity.
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