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...

Oil spills can lead to irreversible environmental degradation and pose hazards to human health. We are the first to study the causal effects of onshore oil spills on neonatal and infant mortality rates. We use spatial data from the Nigerian Oil Spill Monitor and the Demographic and Health...

Nighttime lights are increasingly used by social scientists as a proxy for economic activity and economic development in subnational spatial units. However, so far, our understanding of what nighttime lights capture is limited. We construct local indicators of household wealth, education and...

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 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...

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...

South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world, incurring high cost for society. The present 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 demonstrate a short-term effect of...