Quantifying the Relationship Between Climatic Conditions and Personal Financial and Health Well-Being

Abstract

We address an important research gap by quantifying the association between weather conditions (sunshine, rainfall, temperature anomalies) and individual financial, mental and physical health self-assessments. We compile a unique dataset of (Formula presented.) observations (1991–2018) by matching individual-level data (covering 380 Local Authorities) from the British Household Panel & UK Household Longitudinal Surveys to monthly and daily data from 32 weather stations. We provide robust evidence that favourable climatic conditions are positively related to the likelihood of reporting higher well-being assessments, and negatively related to adverse conditions (particularly temperature anomalies). The estimated weather monetary cost reaches 15% of monthly household income.