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Working Papers

Precipitation and Economic Growth

Michael Berlemann, Daniela Wenzel (2018),
CESifo Working Paper 7258, CESifo Munich.

In this paper we study the growth effects of precipitation in the short-, medium and the long-run, thereby distinguishing between country groups on differing levels of development. We use several different precipitation indicators and study linear as well as non-linear precipitation effects and employ three different rainfall datasets. We find significantly negative and long-lasting growth effects of dry periods especially for comparatively poor countries whereas overly wet periods mainly remain without effect.