Publication: Climate, Water Navigability, and Economic Development
Open/View Files
Date
1999-09
Published Version
Published Version
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Center for International Development at Harvard University
The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you.
Citation
Mellinger, Andrew D., Jeffrey D. Sachs, and John L. Gallup. “Climate, Water Navigability, and Economic Development.” CID Working Paper Series 1999.24, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, September 1999.
Research Data
Abstract
Geographic information systems (GIS) data was used on a global scale to examine the relationship between climate (ecozones), water navigability, and economic development in terms of GDP per capita. GDP per capita and the spatial density of economic activity measured as GDP per km2 are high in temperate ecozones and in regions proximate to the sea (within 100 km of the ocean or a sea-navigable waterway). Temperate ecozones proximate to the sea account for 8 percent of the world’s inhabited land area, 23 percent of the world’s population, and 53 percent of the world’s GDP. The GDP densities in temperate ecozones proximate to the sea are on average eighteen times higher than in non-proximate non-temperate areas.
Description
Other Available Sources
Keywords
Terms of Use
This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material (LAA), as set forth at Terms of Service