Journal Article

Science:

Using Markets to Adapt to Climate Change

Clare Balboni, Lint Barrage, Ian W. Bolliger, Judson Boomhower, Delavane Diaz, Hannah Druckenmiller, Teevrat Garg, Simon Greenhill, Miyuki Hino, Harrison Hong, Solomon Hsiang, Carolyn Kousky, Jeremy Martinich, Ishan Nath, Kimberly L. Oremus, R. Jisung Park, Toan Phan, Jonathan Proctor, Will Rafey, Marcus C. Sarofim, Wolfram Schlenker and Benjamin Simon

This Science paper (2026) argues that climate adaptation needs to complement emissions reduction, as climate impacts will persist even under ambitious mitigation scenarios. The authors-including Clare Balboni (LSE)-highl...Read more...

Journal Article

The Review of Economic Studies:

The Origins and Control of Forest Fires in the Tropics

Clare Balboni, Robin Burgess and Benjamin Olken

Environmental externalities-uncompensated damages imposed on others-lie at the root of climate change, pollution, deforestation and biodiversity loss. Empirical evidence is limited, however, as to how externalities drive...Read more...

Journal Article

Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics:

Spatial environmental economics

Clare Balboni and Joseph S. Shapiro

This chapter examines the role of spatial sorting in shaping economic inequality in the United States. We first document the evolution of firm and worker sorting by skill level between 1980 and 2017. We highlight a shift...Read more...

Journal Article

American Economic Review:

In Harm's Way? Infrastructure Investments and the Persistence of Coastal Cities

Clare Balboni

Coasts contain a disproportionate share of the world's population, reflecting historical advantages, but environmental change threatens a reversal of coastal fortune in the coming decades as natural disasters intensify a...Read more...

Journal Article

Annual Review Economics:

The Economics of Tropical Deforestation

Clare Balboni, Aaron Berman, Robin Burgess and Benjamin Olken

Two factors have elevated recent academic and policy interest in tropical deforestation: first, the realization that it is a major contributor to climate change; and second, a revolution in satellite-based measurement th...Read more...

Journal Article

The Quarterly Journal of Economics:

Why Do People Stay Poor?

Clare Balboni, Oriana Bandiera, Robin Burgess, Maitreesh Ghatak and Anton Heil

There are two broad views as to why people stay poor. One emphasizes differences in fundamentals, such as ability, talent, or motivation. The poverty traps view emphasizes differences in opportunities that stem from acce...Read more...

Journal Article

AEA Papers and Proceedings:

Could Gentrification Stop the Poor from Benefiting from Urban Improvements?

Clare Balboni, Gharad Bryan, Melanie Morton and Bilal Siddiqi

When policymakers invest in urban infrastructure, there are concerns that poor residents living near the infrastructure will be displaced. This paper investigates mechanisms that may lead to such infrastructure-induced g...Read more...

Journal Article

AEA Papers and Proceedings:

Cycles of Fire? Politics and Forest Burning in Indonesia

Clare Balboni, Robin Burgess, Anton Heil, Jonathan Old and Benjamin Olken

This paper examines the link between electoral incentives and environmental degradation by exploiting a satellite dataset on 107,000 forest fires and 879 asynchronous district elections in Indonesia. Fires represent a ch...Read more...

EEE Working Paper

The Origins and Control of Forest Fires in the Tropics

Clare Balboni, Robin Burgess and Benjamin Olken

Pigou (1920) pointed to "uncompensated damage done to surrounding woods by sparks from railway engines" as the canonical example of an environmental externality. We study a modern corollary - tropical forest fires used f...Read more...

Development Discussion Paper

Why Do People Stay Poor?

Clare Balboni, Oriana Bandiera, Robin Burgess, Maitreesh Ghatak and Anton Heil

There are two views as to why people stay poor. The equal opportunity view emphasizes that differences in individual traits like talent or motivation make the poor choose low productivity jobs. The poverty traps view e...Read more...