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Paper short abstract:

We show that high temperature is a threat to individuals' wellbeing. The negative effect of temperature on wellbeing is more pronounced in SSA where there is evidence of geographic exposure with temperature almost twice the global rate and weak capacity to adapt to the temperature variability.

Paper long abstract:

There has been a notable increase in interest in temperature and deprivation in SSA. High temperature is seen to weaken living conditions through several pathways such as agriculture productivity; health; and labour productivity among others. Given the agrarian nature of most African economies, more the 60 percent of the labour force relies heavily on nature for their subsistence, and unfavourable temperature conditions make them vulnerable to fluctuations and this in turn adversely affects their livelihood. Although conceptual links can be drawn to explain the effect of temperature on deprivation given the diverse components of literature, limited evidence exists on the magnitude of the effect of high temperature on deprivation in SSA. We assess wellbeing by employing different subjective measures and we constructed a deprivation index which measures the frequency with which an individual or household suffers insufficiency in basic domains such as food, water, medical care, or cash income. Further, we measure individual deprivation within a non-income context considering the propensity of policymakers to use subjective welfare indicators to assess policy progress and impact. Using the Afrobarometer survey data, our findings show that temperature is positively correlated with deprivation and that high temperature increases the risk of deprivation. Our results also highlight the role of urbanization, institutions and infrastructural attributes in explaining within-country variations in individual deprivation.