On July 26, 2023, Belinda Archibong, assistant professor of economics, published new research alongside co-author Francis Annan of the University of California, Berkeley, in the Review of Environmental Economics and Policy titled “Climate Change, Epidemics, and Inequality.” The study sheds light on the connection between climate change, epidemics, and group-based inequality. Archibong and Annan point out that there has been an increased focus on the connections between both epidemics and economic inequality and epidemics and climate change in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. There remains, however, a gap in research bridging these two theories.
To fill this gap in the literature, Archibong and Annan first reviewed existing studies that have examined the effects of global warming on infectious disease epidemics. The researchers paid close attention to how climate variables (such as temperature, precipitation, and wind speeds) and adaptive human behavior (such as migration) in response to climate events may facilitate the spread of infectious diseases. Then, using evidence from the African meningitis belt, Archibong and Annan examined the possible effects of climate-induced epidemics on gender inequality in the region.
Results indicate that climate-induced epidemics do widen group-based socioeconomic inequalities by worsening outcomes for groups already in economically precarious circumstances. Based on these findings, Archibong and Annan assert that effective policies to protect the public’s well-being in the face of epidemics must be mindful not to augment existing group-based inequalities and should take special care to minimize damage to society’s most marginalized groups.