The discovery of a form of chronic, low-grade systemic inflammation ("metaflammation") linked with obesity, but also associated with several lifestyle-related behaviours not necessarily causing obesity, suggests a re-consideration of obesity as a direct cause of chronic disease and a search for the main drivers-or cause of causes. Factors contributing to this are considered here within an envir...

The impacts of flooding are expected to rise due to population increases, economic growth and climate change. Hence, understanding the physical and spatiotemporal characteristics of risk drivers (hazard, exposure and vulnerability) is required to develop effective flood mitigation measures. Here, the long-term trend in flood vulnerability was analysed globally, calculated from the ratio of the ...

There is a strong connection between economic growth and development of cities. Economic growth tends to stimulate city growth, and city economies have often shaped innovative environments that in turn support economic growth. Simultaneously, social and environmental problems related to city growth can be serious threats to the realization of the socio-economic contributions that cities can mak...

Understanding the economic effects of long-term and gradual climate change, when people have time to adapt, is a central question in the current debate on climate change. Empirical evidence, however, is scarce. I study the economic effects of climate change over a period of 250 years during the Little Ice Age, a historical episode of climate change, between 1500 and 1750. Historians have argued...

This paper examines the macroeconomic effects of foreign aid transfers in a small open recipient economy. The focus, however, is not on the impact of foreign aid per se but rather on aid’s influence conditional upon the different budgetary financing policies under the discretion of the recipient government. We compare the effects of an aid transfer tied to investment in a public good from a pur...

Coal was central to the industrial revolution, but in the 20th century it increasingly was superseded by oil and gas. However, in recent years coal again has become the predominant source of global carbon emissions. We show that this trend of rapidly increasing coal-based emissions is not restricted to a few individual countries such as China. Rather, we are witnessing a global renaissance of c...

T he early 1970s witnessed dramatic change in per-capita output and labor-productivity growth rates in the United States. These growth rates averaged 2.2 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively, for the 1950–1969 period compared to 1.3 percent and 0.8 percent for the 1970–1989 period. Aschauer (1989) advances the idea that an important explanatory factor in this productivity slowdown is the gover...

Energy needs at the global level are gigantic and steadily increasing while the need to reduce carbon emissions is vital if catastrophic climate change is to be avoided. In the Global South, a large part of the population still lacks access to energy, which is crucial for poverty alleviation via the creation of employment and better health and education systems. A great deal of hope is placed o...

Socio-economic development and adaptation to climate change are closely intertwined. Adaptation is increasingly described as climate resilient development or development under a hostile climate. In support of this view, this paper calculates the combined cost of meeting and at the same time “climate-proofing” the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for Africa. Treating adaptation and developmen...

Climate change may well increase malaria morbidity and mortality. This would slow economic growth through increased spending on health care, reduced production, and less effective education. Slower economic growth would increase the incidence of malaria morbidity and mortality. The integrated assessment model FUND is used to estimate the strength of this negative feedback. Although climate-chan...