Chapter 2 examines how violent and property crime respond to temperature, rainfall and drought in South Africa. Based on a 12-years panel data set of detailed crime records and weather data, it confirms the plausibility of a heat-aggression mechanisms, and finds evidence for a...

South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world. This paper examines the effect of weather shocks on various types of crime. Using a 12-year panel data set at monthly resolution on the police ward level, we observe a short-term effect of temperatures on violent crime, supporting the...

South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world. This paper examines the effect of weather shocks on various types of crime. Using a 12-year panel data set at a monthly resolution on the police ward level, we observe a short-term effect of temperatures on violent crime. Furthermore,...

Chapter 3 studies the effect of access to grid electricity on the performance of rural micro-enterprises in Nepal. It analyses survey data from 627 enterprises in 26 electrified and to be electrified communities. Electricity access does not raise the performance of individual enterprises on...

Chapter 1 studies the effects of onshore oil spills on neonatal and infant mortality, and on child health, in Nigeria. It uses geo-referenced data from the Nigerian Oil Spill Monitor and the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) 2013. Nearby oil spills are found to double the neonatal...

Chapter 4 has a regional focus on Africa and explores whether nighttime lights, calculated from weather satellite recordings, are a useful proxy for human development at the local level. Indicators of household wealth, education and health are constructed from geo-coded Demographic and Health...