NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, INC.

Universities Research Conference

Climate Change: Past and Present

May 30 and 31, 2008

Gary Libecap and Richard Steckel, Organizers

Royal Sonesta Hotel

40 Edwin H. Land Blvd.

Cambridge, MA

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM

FRIDAY, MAY 30:

8:30 am Continental Breakfast

9:00 am Measurement of Historical Climate Patterns and impact

RICHARD STECKEL, Ohio State and NBER

Tree Rings Climate Change and Impacts: Sketching a Research Agenda

MELISSA DELL, MIT

BENJAMIN F. JONES, Northwestern University and NBER

BENJAMIN A. OLKEN, Harvard University and NBER.

Climate Change and Economic Growth:

Evidence from the Last Half Century

10:30 am Break

11:00 am Analysis of Government Policies to Address Weather Variability

ZEYNEP K. HANSEN, Boise State University and NBER

GARY D. LIBECAP, UC, Santa Barbara and NBER

SCOTT E. LOWE, Boise State University

Climate Variability and Water Infrastructure:

Historical Experience in the Western United States (not available to download)

RICHARD SUTCH, UC, Riverside and NBER

Henry Agard Wallace, the Iowa Corn Yield Tests, and the Adoption of Hybrid

Corn: American Corn Yields, 1866-2002 (figures)

12:30 pm Lunch

2:00 pm Markets and Openness and Mitigation of the Effects of Climatic Shocks

RAGHAV GAIHA and KENNETH HILL, Harvard University

SHANTANU MATHUR, International Fund for Agricultural Development

VANI S. KULKARNI, Harvard University

On Devastating Droughts

3:00 pm Break

3:30 pm Agricultural Production and Adaptation in the Presence of Historical Climate Shocks

ALAN L. OLMSTEAD, UC, Davis and NBER

PAUL W. RHODE, University of Arizona and NBER

Adjusting to Climatic Variation: Historical Perspectives from North American

Agricultural Development

WOLFRAM SCHLENKER, Columbia University and NBER

MICHAEL ROBERTS, USDA

Estimating the Impact of Climate Change on Crop Yields: The Importance of

Nonlinear Temperature Effects

5:00 pm Adjourn

6:00 pm Group Dinner

Royal Sonesta Hotel

SATURDAY, MAY 31:

8:30 am Continental Breakfast

9:00 am Historical Floods, Drought, and Temperature Fluctuations: Impact on the

Disease Environment and Health

HOYT BLEAKLEY, University of Chicago and NBER

SOK CHUL HONG, University of Chicago

The Impact of Weather on U.S. Farm Productivity: Historical Patterns and

Relation to the Changing Disease Environment

KAREN CLAY, Carnegie Mellon and NBER

WERNER TROESKEN, George Mason University and NBER

On the Seasonality of Disease:

Implications for the Effects of Climate Change on Health

10:30 am Break

11:00 am Historical Climatic Patterns, Mortality, and Migration.

HAGGAY ETKES, Hebrew University

The Impact of Short Term Climate Fluctuations on Rural Population in the Desert

Frontier Nahiye of Gaza (ca. 1519-1557)

PRICE FISHBACK, University of Arizona and NBER

TREVOR KOLLMAN, University of Arizona

MICHAEL HAINES, Colgate College and NBER

PAUL RHODE, University of Arizona and NBER

MELISSA THOMASSON, Miami University and NBER

SHAWN KANTOR, UC, Merced and NBER

The Health Consequences of Natural and Economic Disasters: 1930-1940

VALERIE A. MUELLER and DANIEL E. OSGOOD, Columbia University

Long-term Consequences of Short-term Precipitation Shocks:

Evidence from Brazilian Migrant Households

Panel of experts:

CLAUDIA GOLDIN, Harvard University and NBER (economic history, labor)

CORMAC O’GRADA, University College Dublin (historical famine patterns)

DANIEL SUMNER, UC, Davis (agricultural data and productivity patterns)

ERICA FIELD, Harvard University (health and economic development)

CATHERINE WOLFRAM, UC, Berkeley and NBER (contemporary climate change)

MICHAEL GREENSTONE, MIT and NBER (contemporary climate change)

1:00 pm Adjourn

4/24/08