Conference Paper
Rising Temperatures, Widening Gap: A Study of Income Inequality Amidst Climate Change in the MENA Region
No.
ERF32AC_191
Publisher
ERF
Date
May, 2026
Topic
I3. Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
There is extensive literature examining the effect of climate change on income inequality globally. However, there is limited literature focusing on this issue with respect to the MENA region, an area particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of the climate crisis. This paper examines some of the climatic factors that affect income inequality using panel data, including 19 countries over 28 years, from the year 1995 to 2023. Recent studies have highlighted the urgency of addressing climate-induced income disparities, emphasizing the need for context-specific interventions supported by understanding socio-economic contexts and vulnerabilities of the targeted region. Consequently, this research is dedicated to exploring these dynamics and recommending evidence-based policies aimed at reducing climate-induced income disparities in the MENA region. This paper examines the relationship between the Gini index and various variables, including temperature, precipitation, vulnerability, and resilience. The results presented are based on a static panel model created using data retrieved from Standardized World Income Inequality Database (SWIID), World Income Inequality Database (WIID) and World Development Indicator (WDI) for the inequality and macroeconomic variables. The climate-related variables are retrieved from the Climate Change Knowledge Portal (World Bank Group) and Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN). The data revealed that resilience and temperature increases have a negative effect on the Gini index, indicating wider income gaps. Thus, it was recommended to study the root causes of the factors that negatively affect the Gini index, as well as invest in climate-resilient infrastructure, renewable energy resources, and education. Future research regarding this topic could focus on regional differences or integrate gender disparities within the model.
Authors
Laila Elgindy
Paris 1 Sorbonne University- Cairo University
Research Fellows
Yasmine Abdelfattah
Assistant Professor of Statistics and Economics, University...