Conference Agenda

Climate change has been identified as the largest threat to public health of the 21st century. Despite this evidence, the integrated assessment models (IAMs) used to quantify the global consequences of climate change seldom incorporate its long-term effects on public health and living conditions. This paper addresses this gap by employing an agent-based stock-flow consistent model that captures the long-run social impacts of climate change in terms of population health and well-being, within a framework that jointly analyses the co-evolution of health and economic dynamics. The model shows that climate change-induced health shocks increase mortality and hospitalization rates, leading to declines in both overall life expectancy and healthy life expectancy. The health effects, primarily via their impacts on labour supply, spill over to the economic sector, affecting GDP growth and amplifying the macroeconomic impacts of climate change. Importantly, our results reveal a vicious feedback-loop between economic and health dynamics, which amplifies the initial health impacts. Finally, the model provides a robust framework for evaluating the effects of alternative climate policies on economic growth and collective welfare, as well as for assessing different public health investment strategies aimed at mitigating the societal impacts of climate change.