Alan Barreca

About

Alan Barreca is an Associate Professor at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA, having joined the institute in 2017. Prior to this, he worked in the Economics Department at Tulane University in New Orleans. He earned a PhD in Economics from UC Davis in 2008. His research primarily investigates the reasons why people living in certain climates have more economic advantages and better health than others. His ongoing work aims to identify ways to mitigate both the current costs of weather shocks and the future costs of climate change. His research has broad public appeal and has been covered by various media outlets, including CNN, Bloomberg, Huffington Post, Mashable, The Independent, CityLab, Reuters, NY Times, and Washington Post. Additionally, his work on the fertility costs of climate change was featured on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Alan has published articles across a diverse set of peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Environmental Economics & Management, American Journal of Epidemiology, and Journal of Human Resources. His accomplishments include membership in the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). His recent projects involve using cooling centers to prevent heat-related illness and death in Los Angeles, and his research addresses issues like the impact of high ambient temperatures on delivery timing and…

Research topics

• Economics
• Environmental science
• Agricultural economics
• Natural resource economics
• Medicine
• Ecology
• Business
• Economic growth
• Demography
• Finance

Selected publications

• Maybe Next Month? Temperature Shocks and Dynamic Adjustments in Birth Rates

  Demography · 2018-07-02 · 167 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  We estimate the effects of temperature shocks on birth rates in the United States between 1931 and 2010. We find that days with a mean temperature above 80°F cause a large decline in birth rates 8 to 10 months later. Unlike prior studies, we demonstrate that the initial decline is followed by a partial rebound in births over the next few months, implying that populations mitigate some of the fertility cost by shifting conception month. This shift helps explain the observed peak in late-summer bi…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The impact of high ambient temperatures on delivery timing and gestational lengths

  Nature Climate Change · 2019-12-02 · 120 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• High temperatures and electricity disconnections for low-income homes in California

  Nature Energy · 2022 · 41 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Estimating Causal Effects of Particulate Matter Regulation on Mortality

  Epidemiology · 2019-12-13 · 17 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Estimating the causal effect of pollution on human health is integral for evaluating returns to pollution regulation, yet separating out confounding factors remains a perennial challenge. METHODS: We use a quasi-experimental design to investigate the causal relationship between regulation of particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrograms per cubic meter (PM2.5) and mortality among those 65 years of age and older. We exploit regulatory changes in the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA). R…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Adaptation to Environmental Change: Agriculture and the Unexpected Incidence of the Acid Rain Program

  American Economic Journal Economic Policy · 2022-02-01 · 16 citations

  articleSenior author

  The Acid Rain Program (ARP) cut sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) emissions from power plants in the United States, with considerable benefits. We show this also reduced ambient sulfate levels, which lowered agriculture productivity through decreased soil sulfur. Using plant-level SO 2 emissions and an atmospheric transport model, we estimate the relationship between airborne sulfate levels and yields for corn and soybeans. We estimate crop revenue losses for these two crops at around $1–$1.5 billion per y…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Nicholas J. Sanders

  145 shared

• Matthew Neidell

  Columbia University

  135 shared

• Olivier Deschênes

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  68 shared

• Price Fishback

  57 shared

• Shawn Kantor

  Florida State University

  54 shared

• Melanie Guldi

  42 shared

• Karen Clay

  Carnegie Mellon University

  36 shared

• Jason M. Lindo

  Georgia Institute of Technology

  31 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Environmental Science and Engineering

  University of California, Los Angeles

Awards & honors

• Membership in the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER…
• Membership in the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

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