Labor Market Frictions and Adaptation to Climate Change: Evidence from Workplace Safety
* 주관: 서울대학교 경제학부, 경제연구소 한국경제혁신센터, SSK, BK21
* 본 세미나는 BK21+(2023-1학기) 세미나 참석으로 인정됩니다.
- 세미나 참석인정을 원하는 학생은 세미나 종료 후 참석자 명단을 작성해주시기 바랍니다.
Abstract
Technologies to mitigate the effects of climate change on worker health and productivity exist, but will employers adopt them? This depends on how labor markets work. Using data from over 11 million worker’s compensation claims and high-frequency weather data (2000-2018), we explore the relationship between temperature and workplace safety, as well as the role of adaptation investments in mitigating this relationship. Hotter temperature increases workplace injury risk substantially, with days above 90◦F leading to 6 to 9 percent more injury claims relative to a day in the 50s. Consistent with a model in which adaptation is technically feasible but costly, we find evidence for elevated accident risk in both indoor (manufacturing, warehousing) and outdoor (construction, agriculture) industries, and for types of injuries that are ostensibly unrelated to direct heat exposure (e.g. falling from heights, mishandling heavy equipment), which suggests that official statistics may understate heat-related injury burdens by a factor of four or more. Exploiting variation in what is to our knowledge the first workplace heat safety mandate, we provide evidence that firms and workers may not operate at the Pareto adaptation frontier in private equilibrium.