Temperature and the Allocation of Time: Implications for Climate Change

Graff Zivin, J and M Neidell, “Temperature and the Allocation of Time: Implications for Climate Change,” Journal of Labor Economics, 32(2014): 1-26.

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We estimate the impacts of temperature on time allocation by exploiting plausibly exogenous variation in temperature over time within counties. Temperature increases at the higher end of the distribution reduce hours worked in industries with high exposure to climate and reduce time allocated to outdoor leisure for the nonemployee, with this time reallocated to indoor leisure. At the lower end of the distribution, time allocated to labor is nonresponsive to temperature increases, but outdoor leisure increases while indoor leisure decreases as temperature warms. We also find suggestive evidence of short-run adaptation to higher temperatures through temporal substitutions and acclimatization.