The Willingness to Pay for a Cooler Day: Evidence from 50 Years of Major League Baseball Games

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kuruc, Kevin; Lopalo, Melissa; O'CoNNoR, Sean
• 署名单位: University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin; University of Oklahoma System; University of Oklahoma - Norman; Montana State University System; Montana State University Bozeman; Federal Housing Finance Agency
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20220606
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 126-159
• 关键词: climate-change; Price elasticity; weather; temperature; mortality; demand; BEHAVIOR

摘要

The climate economy literature has documented adverse effects of extreme temperatures on well-being through mechanisms such as mortality, productivity, and conflict. Impacts due simply to discomfort are less well understood. This paper investigates individuals' valuations of weather using a revealed preference approach. We first quantify the decline in attendance at Major League Baseball games on hot and cold days. Leveraging this finding coupled with the historically informed assumption of a horizontal supply curve, we infer a monetized estimate of the disutility of extreme temperatures. We estimate a $1.53 utility loss per hour of exposure to high temperatures, implying nontrivial aggregate welfare effects. ( JEL D12, I31, L83, Q54, Z21)