American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics
ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)
Temperature, Worker Productivity, and Adaptation: Evidence from Survey Data Production
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 15,
no. 1, January 2023
(pp. 192–229)
Abstract
This paper estimates the impact of daily weather on worker productivity by using household survey data to study interviewers. Using data from over 9,000 Demographic and Health Surveys interviewers in 46 countries, I find that interviewers complete 13.6 percent fewer interviews per hour on the hottest and most humid days. Workers maintain the same total output by starting earlier in the day and spending more time on each interview at the expense of spending more hours in the field with the same total pay. In addition, interviewers become differentially less productive on tasks that are less easily monitored.Citation
LoPalo, Melissa. 2023. "Temperature, Worker Productivity, and Adaptation: Evidence from Survey Data Production." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 15 (1): 192–229. DOI: 10.1257/app.20200547Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C83 Survey Methods; Sampling Methods
- J22 Time Allocation and Labor Supply
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- J81 Labor Standards: Working Conditions
- O12 Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
- Q54 Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming
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