The relationship between climate change and the economic crisis has been proven
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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The cold climate in Europe at the end of the 16th century led to the economic crisis, the plague and hunger epidemics, and as a result of chronic malnutrition, the growth of people for 100 years decreased by 2 centimeters, scientists concluded from the University of Hong Kong under the leadership of Dr. David Zhang.
Recent research has shown that climatic and environmental disasters provoke drastic social changes. For example, global warming leads to civil wars, affects the birth rate of the population, the spread of the plague epidemic
A study conducted by David Zhang and his colleagues showed how the climate influenced people's lives in Europe in the 16th-19th century.
As a result of the statistical analysis, 14 variables, such as the population, wars, people's migration, the price of gold and food, people's wages in Europe, the width of annual tree rings, the temperature data of Europe from 1500 to 1800, and the Granger method , a group of scientists established a causal relationship between these variables.
Cooling led to the economic crisis
Sharp climatic changes in the direction of cooling in the period from 1560 to 1660 really turned out to be a significant cause of social unrest among the population of Europe, civil wars, the spread of the plague epidemic.
David Zhang explained the logical chain of events because cooling has led to a sharp decline in crop yields; this led to an increase in the price of gold and inflation.
Chronic malnutrition reduced growth
The crop failure in this period provoked famine. But, despite the famine, the population of Europe continued to grow, which led to an increase in food prices, and human resources depreciated. Because of the constant hunger and malnutrition, the average European growth for a hundred years decreased by 2, 5 centimeters.
The era of the economic crisis coincided with the mass migration of the population, Chaotic resettlements led to the rapid spread of the plague epidemic, which subsided in 1650, which coincided with another warming of the climate. In the middle of the 17th century, the Enlightenment era began in Europe.
The study showed correlations of temperature changes and historical events in past centuries, which made it possible to determine the threshold of the crisis and predict social catastrophes.