Is climate change hindering economic growth of Asian economies?

Asia is recognized as one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change on the planet. With approximately 60 per cent of world’s population residing in Asia, this phenomenon presents serious concerns for policymakers in the region. The present study analyses the impacts of climate change on economic growth for selected Asian countries during the period 1972-2009. A growth model has been developed by incorporating temperature and precipitation as proxies for climate change in the production function and a fixed effect model (FEM) and seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) have been used to estimate the model. The results reveal that economic growth is negatively affected by changes in temperature, precipitation and population growth whereas urbanization and human development stimulates economic growth. The results also indicate that agriculture is the most vulnerable sector to climate change and manufacturing is the least affected sector.