Here’s a new reason to hate global warming
| July 22, 2009 | 4:01 PM
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Next time you look at your retirement account balance and feel a powerful urge to hurl invectives at something recession-related, think about blaming global warming.
Yes, global warming. Research from Massachusetts Institute of Technology economists indicates that higher temperatures have a negative effect on a country’s economic growth.
The study was an attempt to figure out why countries with cooler climates generally tend to be wealthier than nations in hotter parts of the world. For instance, Norway — not known for its heat waves — is on the high end of the economic scale, whereas Congo — sweltering near the equator — struggles with poverty.
And it seems that a hotter-than-normal year correlates with a drop in gross domestic product, but only in countries that are already poor. The researchers speculated that’s because those of us in wealthier nations either are situated in cooler climates (i.e. Norway) or have the benefit of a beautiful thing called air conditioning.
OK, so maybe we can’t blame global warming for the recession. But go right ahead and hurl those invectives. I won’t tell anyone.
Read the full MIT report here.
economy, global warming, massachusetts institute of technology, wealth
