Research

we use social science, natural science, and data science to better understand how we can effectively manage global resources

climate change
health
development
policy
satellite imagery + machine learning
data + code
all publications

collaborations

climate change

health

development

policy

resources for decision-makers

All publications

Estimating global impacts to agriculture from climate change accounting for adaptation

Hultgren, A, T Carleton, M Delgado, DR Gergel, M Greenstone, T Houser, S Hsiang, A Jina, RE Kopp, SB Malevich, KE McCusker, T Mayer, I Nath, J Rising, A Rode, J Yuan (forthcoming)

Global Economic Impacts of Climate Change: An Empirical Perspective

S Hsiang, Annual Review of Economics (forthcoming)

A machine-learning pipeline for merging and georeferencing very large archives of historical aerial photographs

Noda, E, LY Huang, T Chong, S Jain, A Madestam, A Tompsett, H Druckenmiller, S Hsiang (forthcoming)

Mortality Caused by Tropical Cyclones in the United States

Young, R, S Hsiang, Nature (2024)

Data anomalies cause unprecedented estimate for the economic commitment of climate change

Bearpark, T, D Hogan, S Hsiang (2024)

New Evidence on the Economics of Climate and Conflict

M Burke, J Ferguson, SM Hsiang, E Miguel, NBER Working Paper 33040 (2024)

Are we adapting to climate change?

Burke, M, MZahid, M Martins, C Callahan, R Lee, T Avirmed, S Heft-Neal, M Kiang, S Hsiang, D Lobell, NBER Working Paper 32985 (2024)

Mainstreaming nature in US federal policy

Tallis, H, EP Fenichel, L Petes, S Hsiang, PS Levin, H Levy, J Lubchenco, Science (2024)

Global Health and Economic Impacts of Behavior Change During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tseng, J, K Coy, C Ilin, A Ewing, T Chong, S Marks, I Bolliger, N Mejia Gonzalez, K Bell, A Hakim, S Hsiang (2024)

Quantifying climate change loss and damage consistent with a social cost of greenhouse gases

Burke, M, M Zahid, N Diffenbaugh, S M Hsiang, NBER Working Paper 31658 (2023)

Simultaneous measurement of health damage from transboundary and domestic air pollution in mixture

Lee, J, AJ Wilson, S Hsiang (2023)

DSCIM-Coastal v1. 1: an open-source modeling platform for global impacts of sea level rise

Depsky, N, I Bolliger, D Allen, JH Choi, M Delgado, M Greenstone, A Hamidi, T Houser, RE Kopp, S Hsiang, Geoscientific Model Development (2023)

Global high-resolution estimates of the United Nations Human Development Index using satellite imagery and machine-learning

Sherman, L, J Proctor, H Druckenmiller, H Tapia, S Hsiang, NBER Working Paper 31044 (2023)

Valuing the Global Mortality Consequences of Climate Change Accounting for Adaptation Costs and Benefits

Carleton, T, A Jina, M Delgado, M Greenstone, T Houser, S Hsiang, A Hultgren, R Kopp, K McCusker, Kelly, I Nath, J Rising, A Rode, HK Seo, J Simcock, A Viaene, J Yuan, Jiacan, A Zhang, Quarterly Journal

of Economics (2022)

The Welfare Economics of a Data Driven Social Cost of Carbon

Nath, I, KE McCusker, I Bolliger, T Carleton, M Delgado, M Greenstone, T Houser, S Hsiang, A Hultgren, A Jina, RE Kopp, J Rising, A Rode (2022)

Labor disutility in a warmer world: The impact of climate change on the global workforce

Rode, A, RE Baker, T Carleton, A D'Agostino, M Delgado, T Foreman, DR Gergel, M Greenstone, T Houser, S Hsiang, A Hultgren, A Jina, RE Kopp, SB Malevich, KE McCusker, I Nath, M Pecenco, J Rising, J Yuan

(2022)

Harmonized nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin from 1980 to 2018

Krasovich, E, P Lau, J Tseng, J Longmate, K Bell, S Hsiang, Scientific Data (2022)

A Distribution of Human Attention to Moments in Time

Annan-Phan, S, L Biardeau, S Hsiang – Revisions requested (2022)

Estimating a Social Cost of Carbon for Global Energy Consumption

Rode, A, T Carleton, M Delgado, M Greenstone, T Houser, S Hsiang, A Hultgren, A Jina, R Kopp, K McCusker, I Nath, J Rising, J Yuan, Nature (2021)

A Generalizable and Accessible Approach to Machine Learning with Global Satellite Imagery

Rolf, E, J Proctor, T Carleton, I Bolliger, V Shankar, M Ishihara, B Recht, S Hsiang, Nature Communications (2021)

Empirically valuing natural capital

Bell, K, S Sum, J Longmate, J Tseng, S Hsiang (2021)

Using Satellite Imagery and Deep Learning to Evaluate the Impact of Anti-Poverty Programs

Huang, LY, S Hsiang, M Gonzalez-Navarro. arXiv preprint arXiv:2104.11772 (2021).

Public mobility data enables covid-19 forecasting and management at local and global scales

Ilin, C, S Annan-Phan, XH Tai, S Mehra, S Hsiang, J Blumenstock, Scientific Reports (2021)

Combined modeling of US fluvial, pluvial, and coastal flood hazard under current and future climates

Bates, P.D., Quinn, N., Sampson, C., Smith, A., Wing, O., Sosa, J., Savage, J., Olcese, G., Neal, J., Schumann, G. and Giustarini, L., Water Resources Research (2021)

The effect of large-scale anti-contagion policies on the COVID-19 pandemic

S Hsiang, D Allen, S Annan-Phan, K Bell, I Bolliger, T Chong, H Druckenmiller, LY Huang, A Hultgren, E Krasovich, P Lau, J Lee, E Rolf, J Tseng and T Wu, Nature (2020)

Destructive Behavior, Judgment, and Economic Decision-making under Thermal Stress

Almås, Auffhammer, Bold, Bolliger, Dembo, Hsiang, Kitamura, Miguel, Pickmans, NBER Working Paper 25785 (2019)

Strengthened scientific support for the Endangerment Finding for atmospheric greenhouse gases

Duffy, Field, Diffenbaugh, Doney, Dutton, Goodman, Heinzerling, Hsiang, Lobell, Mickley, Myers, Natali, Parmesan, Tierney, Williams, Science (2019)

The Distribution of Environmental Damages

S Hsiang, P Oliva, WR Walker, Review of Environmental Economics and Policy (2019)

Spatial Correlation, Trade, and Inequality: Evidence from the Global Climate

Dingel, Meng, and Hsiang, NBER Working Paper 25447 (2019)

An Economist's Guide to Climate Change Science

Hsiang & Kopp, Journal of Economic Perspectives (2018)

Accounting for Unobservable Heterogeneity in Cross Section Using Spatial First Differences

Druckenmiller & Hsiang, NBER Working Paper 25177 (2018)

Estimating global agricultural effects of geoengineering using volcanic eruptions

Proctor, Hsiang, Burney, Burke, Schlenker, Nature (2018)

Higher temperatures increase suicide rates in the United States and Mexico

Burke, Gonzalez, Baylis, Heft-Neal, Baysan, Basu, Hsiang, Nature Climate Change (2018)

N Sekar, W Clark, A Dobson, P Coelho, P Hannam, R Hepworth, S Hsiang, P Kahumbu, P Lee, K Lindsay, C Lopes Pereira, S Wasser, K Nowak, Science (2018)

Hsiang, S & M Burke, Nature (2018)

Graff Zivin, J. S.M. Hsiang, M. Neidell, Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (2018)

Ground Control to Major Tom: the importance of field surveys in remotely sensed data analysis

I Bolliger, T Carleton, S Hsiang, J Kadish, J Proctor, B Recht, E Rolf, V Shankar, Bloomberg Data for Good Exchange (2017)

Estimating economic damage from climate change in the United States

Hsiang, Kopp, Jina, Rising, Delgado, Mohan, Rasmussen, Muir-Wood, Wilson, Oppenheimer, Larsen, Houser, Science (2017)

The Marginal Product of Climate

Deryugina, T., & S. Hsiang, NBER Working Paper 24072 (2016)

Social and economic impacts of climate

T.A. Carleton & S.M. Hsiang, Science (2016)

Does Legalization Reduce Black Market Activity? Evidence from a Global Ivory Experiment and Elephant Poaching Data

S. Hsiang & N. Sekar, NBER working paper 22314 (2016)

Potentially Extreme Population Displacement and Concentration in the Tropics Under Non-Extreme Warming

S.M. Hsiang & A.H. Sobel, Scientific Reports (2016)

Conflict in a changing climate

Carleton, T.A., S.M. Hsiang, M. Burke, European Physical Journal Special Topics (2016).

Climate Econometrics

Hsiang, S.M., Annual review of Resource Economics (2016)

Opportunities for advances in climate change economics

Burke, M., M. Craxton, C. D. Kolstad, C. Onda, H. Allcott, E. Baker, L. Barrage, R. Carson, K. Gillingham, J. Graf-Zivin, M. Greenstone, S. Hallegatte, W.M. Hanemann, G. Heal, S. Hsiang, B. Jones, D. L. Kelly, R. Kopp, M. Kotchen, R. Mendelsohn, K. Meng, G. Metcalf, J. Moreno-Cruz, R. Pindyck, S. Rose, I. Rudik, J. Stock, R. S. J. Tol, Science (2016)

Tropical Cyclones: From the Influence of Climate to Their Socioeconomic Impacts

Camargo, S, SM Hsiang (2015) in Extreme Events: Observations, Modeling, and Economics Ed. Chavez, Ghil, & Urrutia-Fucugauchi

Global Non-linear Effect of Temperature on Economic Production

Burke, M, SM Hsiang, E Miguel, Nature (2015)

Economic Risks of Climate Change: An American Prospectus

Houser, T., R. Kopp, S.M. Hsiang, M. Delgado, A.S. Jina, K. Larsen, M. Mastrandrea, S. Mohan, R. Muir-Wood, DJ Rasmussen, J. Rising, P. Wilson, Columbia University Press (2015)

Climate and Conflict

Burke, M, SM Hsiang, E Miguel, Annual Review of Economics (2015)

Geography, Depreciation, and Growth

Hsiang, SM, AS Jina, American Economic Review (2015)

Tropical Economics

Hsiang, SM, KC Meng, American Economic Review (2015)

The Causal Effect of Environmental Catastrophe on Long-Run Economic Growth: Evidence From 6,700 Cyclones

Hsiang, S.M., A.S. Jina, NBER Working Paper 20352 (2014)

Does the Environment Still Matter? Daily Temperature and Income in the United States

Deryugina, T.,  S.M. Hsiang, NBER Working Paper No. 20750 (2014)

Reconciling climate-conflict meta-analyses: reply to Buhaug et al.

Burke, M., S.M. Hsiang, E. Miguel, Climatic Change (2014)

Nonlinear permanent migration response to climatic variations but minimal response to disasters

Bohra-Mishra, P, M Oppenheimer, SM Hsiang, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2014)

Temperature and Violence

Cane, M.A., E. Miguel, M. Burke, S.M. Hsiang, D.B. Lobell, K.C. Meng, S. Satyanath, Nature Climate Change (2014)

Climate, Conflict and Social Stability: What does the evidence say?

Hsiang, SM, M Burke, Climatic Change (2014)

Reconciling Temperature-conflict Results in Kenya

Hsiang, S.M., M. Burke, E. Miguel, CEGA Working Paper 032 (2013)

Reconciling disagreement over climate–conflict results in Africa

Hsiang, SM, KC Meng, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2014)

Quantifying the Influence of Climate on Human Conflict

Hsiang, SM, M Burke, E Miguel, Science (2013) 

Using Weather Data and Climate Model Output in Economic Analyses of Climate Change

Auffhammer, M, SM Hsiang, W Schlenker, AH Sobel, Review of Environmental Economics and Policy (2013)

Destruction, Disinvestment, and Death: Economic and Human Losses Following Environmental Disaster

Anttila-Hughes JK, SM Hsiang, SSRN Working Paper (2012) 

Visually-Weighted Regression

Hsiang, SM (2012)

Adaptation to Cyclone Risk: Evidence from the Global Cross-Section

Hsiang, S.M., D. Narita, Climate Change Economics (2012)

Civil Conflicts are associated with the global climate

Hsiang, SM, KC Meng, MA Cane, Nature (2011)

Temperatures and cyclones strongly associated with economic production in the Caribbean and Central America

Hsiang, SM, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2010)