On March 15, 2018 at 4:15 pm in Pettengill G21, Nathan Chan, Assistant Professor at the Department of Resource Economics, The University of Massachusetts presented his talk on “The Effects of Climate on Leisure Demand: Evidence from North America.”

Talk Description:   Quantifying the costs and benefits of climate change is critical for policy, and our understanding of how climate change will impact economic output is growing rapidly. However, we have relatively little knowledge about how future climate will influence recreation and leisure activities, which are important determinants of human welfare. In this study, we gather data on 27 million recreational bicycle trips from 16 bike-sharing programs across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. We match detailed riding data with prevailing weather conditions and climate models to estimate the effect of climate change on outdoor recreation.

Sponsored by The Casey Lecture Fund for Economics