Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/207428 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 12603
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper characterizes the link between ambient temperatures and a broad set of mental health outcomes. We find that higher temperatures increase emergency department visits for mental illness, suicides, and self-reported days of poor mental health. Specifically, cold temperatures reduce negative mental health outcomes while hot temperatures increase them. Our estimates reveal no evidence of adaptation, instead the temperature relationship is stable across time, baseline climate, air conditioning penetration rates, accessibility of mental health services, and other factors. The character of the results suggests that temperature affects mental health very differently than physical health, and more similarly to other psychological and behavioral outcomes. We provide suggestive evidence for sleep disruption as an active mechanism behind our results and discuss the implications of our findings for the allocation of mental health services and in light of climate change.
Subjects: 
mental health
weather
climate
suicide
health
JEL: 
I10
I12
I18
Q50
Q51
Q54
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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