Destructive Behaviour, Judgement and Economic Decision-making under Thermal Stress

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Almas, Ingvild; Auffhammer, Maximilian; Bold, Tessa; Bolliger, Ian; Dembo, Aluma; Hsiang, Solomon M.; Kitamura, Shuhei; Miguel, Edward; Pickmans, Robert
• 署名单位: Stockholm University; University of California System; University of California Berkeley; National Bureau of Economic Research; Reichman University; University of Osaka
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueae116
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: ambient-temperature; costly punishment; civil conflict; CLIMATE-CHANGE; crop yields; aggression; heat; fairness; weather; shocks

摘要

Accumulating evidence indicates that environmental temperature substantially affects economic outcomes and violence, but the reasons for this linkage are only partially understood. We study whether temperature directly influences behaviour by evaluating the effect of thermal stress on multiple dimensions of economic decision-making, judgement and destructive behaviour with 2,000 participants in Kenya and the United States who were randomly assigned to different temperatures in a laboratory. The main finding is that most major dimensions of economic decision-making are unaffected by temperature. We also find that heat significantly increases willingness to voluntarily destroy other participants' assets in the Kenyan sample.