How Econometrics Can Help Us
Understand the Effects of Climate
Change on Crop Yields: The Case of
Soybeans
Hildegart Ahumada and Magdalena Cornejo
Abstract Climate econometrics is a new field, which is proving to be a fruitful
approach to give a rigorous treatment to many hypotheses related to climate change.
This chapter illustrates how econometrics can help understand the effects of climate
change on the time behavior of crop yields at a country-level scale. We use a multivariate framework to discuss issues related to non-stationarity of climate variables,
the existence of nonlinearities, and collinearities. We also examine the exogeneity of
the explanatory variables in crop yields models, the presence of extreme events, and
the short- and long-run effects of climate change. Global climate change may affect
the incorporation of new lands to production and the rise of crop yields to meet the
increasing demand for food and energy. However, adaptation, trade, the declining
share over time of agriculture in the economy, and carbon fertilization have reduced
the harmful impacts of global warming. In particular, carbon fertilization refers to the
positive effects that increasing carbon dioxide concentrations have on some plants
that use CO 2 during photosynthesis. We focus on soybeans in Brazil, USA, and particularly in Argentina, as interesting examples of mitigation and adaptation to global
and regional climate fluctuations.
Keywords Climate change · Carbon dioxide · Crop yields · Adaptation ·
Mitigation
H. Ahumada
Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Av. Figueroa Alcorta 7350, Buenos Aires, Argentina
e-mail: hahumada@utdt.edu
M. Cornejo (B)
Universidad Torcuato Di Tella and CONICET, Av. Figueroa Alcorta 7350, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
e-mail: mcornejo@utdt.edu
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. E. Belfiori and M. J. Rabassa, (eds.) The Economics of Climate Change
in Argentina, The Latin American Studies Book Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62252-7_2
17
Understand the Effects of Climate
Change on Crop Yields: The Case of
Soybeans
Hildegart Ahumada and Magdalena Cornejo
Abstract Climate econometrics is a new field, which is proving to be a fruitful
approach to give a rigorous treatment to many hypotheses related to climate change.
This chapter illustrates how econometrics can help understand the effects of climate
change on the time behavior of crop yields at a country-level scale. We use a multivariate framework to discuss issues related to non-stationarity of climate variables,
the existence of nonlinearities, and collinearities. We also examine the exogeneity of
the explanatory variables in crop yields models, the presence of extreme events, and
the short- and long-run effects of climate change. Global climate change may affect
the incorporation of new lands to production and the rise of crop yields to meet the
increasing demand for food and energy. However, adaptation, trade, the declining
share over time of agriculture in the economy, and carbon fertilization have reduced
the harmful impacts of global warming. In particular, carbon fertilization refers to the
positive effects that increasing carbon dioxide concentrations have on some plants
that use CO 2 during photosynthesis. We focus on soybeans in Brazil, USA, and particularly in Argentina, as interesting examples of mitigation and adaptation to global
and regional climate fluctuations.
Keywords Climate change · Carbon dioxide · Crop yields · Adaptation ·
Mitigation
H. Ahumada
Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Av. Figueroa Alcorta 7350, Buenos Aires, Argentina
e-mail: hahumada@utdt.edu
M. Cornejo (B)
Universidad Torcuato Di Tella and CONICET, Av. Figueroa Alcorta 7350, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
e-mail: mcornejo@utdt.edu
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. E. Belfiori and M. J. Rabassa, (eds.) The Economics of Climate Change
in Argentina, The Latin American Studies Book Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62252-7_2
17