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Dr Thomas McDermott

C.Comm., M.Sc. PhD

 
researcher
 

Biography

I am a Government of Ireland Research Fellow at the J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics at NUI, Galway, and a Visiting Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics.My research is at the intersection of environmental and development economics. I have published widely, including in leading economics journals, as well as more generalist science and social science journals. My research has been cited over 800 times, including in the recent high profile IPCC SR1.5 report (in Chapters 4 and 5). I am also co-editor with Sam Fankhauser of The Economics of Climate Resilient Development(Edward Elgar, 2016).I am currently working on a research project on Spatial Adjustment to Climate Impacts and Economic Development, funded by the Irish Research Council.I have also recently been invited to act as Lead Consultant for an Asian Development Bank report on “Disasters and Development in Asia”, to be published in 2019.I was previously Principal Investigator for a project funded by the Irish Environmental Protection Agency on the economic impacts of flooding in Ireland, and options for managing flood risk, including an emphasis on the role of insurance. The outputs from this project include publications at JEEP, Phil Trans R Soc A, as well as a policy paper on flooding and insurance, and a policy brief on local adaptation decision-making.I have also consulted for the World Bank and the Irish Government (EPA/Dept of Climate Action) — including contributing a background paper for Ireland’s first statutory National Climate Change Adaptation Framework (published in January 2018).I hold a PhD from Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), where I was supervised by Frank Barry and Richard Tol. During the Summer of 2012 I was a PhD research intern at the United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) in Helsinki. I hold a B.Comm (International – with Italian) and an M.Sc. in Economics from the National University of Ireland, Galway and previously taught economics at Dublin City University and at UCC.

Peer Reviewed Journals

  Year Publication
(2019) 'Flooded Cities'
Adriana Kocornik-Mina, Thomas K.J. McDermott, Guy Michaels, Ferdinand Rauch (2019) 'Flooded Cities'. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, [Details]
(2019) 'The impact of flooding disruption on the spatial distribution of commuter's income'
Kilgarriff, P;McDermott, TKJ;Vega, A;Morrissey, K;O'Donoghue, C (2019) 'The impact of flooding disruption on the spatial distribution of commuter's income'. Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, 8 :48-64 [DOI] [Details]
(2018) 'How normative interpretations of climate risk assessment affect local decision-making: an exploratory study at the city scale in Cork, Ireland'
McDermott, TKJ;Surminski, S (2018) 'How normative interpretations of climate risk assessment affect local decision-making: an exploratory study at the city scale in Cork, Ireland'. Philosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society A-Mathematical Physical And Engineering Sciences, 376 [DOI] [Details]
(2016) 'Why is gold a safe haven?'
Baur, Dirk G, McDermott, Thomas K.J. (2016) 'Why is gold a safe haven?'. The Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, 10 :63-71 [Details]
(2016) 'Model confirmation in climate economics'
Millner A,McDermott TKJ, (2016) 'Model confirmation in climate economics'. Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences of The United States of America, 113 (31) [Details]
(2016) 'Geography, institutions and development: A review of the long-run impacts of climate change'
Castells-Quintana, David, Lopez-Uribe, Maria, McDermott, Thomas K.J. (2016) 'Geography, institutions and development: A review of the long-run impacts of climate change'. Climate and Development, [Details]
(2014) 'Understanding the adaptation deficit: Why are poor countries more vulnerable to climate events than rich countries?'
Fankhauser, Samuel, McDermott, Thomas K.J. (2014) 'Understanding the adaptation deficit: Why are poor countries more vulnerable to climate events than rich countries?'. Global Environmental Change, 27 :9-18 [Details]
(2014) 'Disasters and Development: Natural Disasters, Credit Constraints and Economic Growth'
McDermott, Thomas K.J., Barry, Frank, Tol, Richard S.J. (2014) 'Disasters and Development: Natural Disasters, Credit Constraints and Economic Growth'. Oxford Economic Papers, 66 (3):750-773 [Details]
(2010) 'Is Gold a safe haven: International evidence'
Baur, Dirk G., McDermott, Thomas K.J. (2010) 'Is Gold a safe haven: International evidence'. Journal of Banking and Finance, 34 (8):1886-1898 [Details]

Book Chapters

  Year Publication
(2016) 'Coping with climate risk: The options'
Thomas K.J. McDermott, Maria del Pilar Lopez-Uribe, David Castells-Quintana (2016) 'Coping with climate risk: The options' In: The Economics of Climate Resilient Development. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. [Details]
(2016) 'Investing in Disaster Risk Management in an Uncertain Climate'
McDermott, TKJ (2016) 'Investing in Disaster Risk Management in an Uncertain Climate' In: Realising the Triple Resilience Dividend: A New Business Case for Disaster Risk Management. London: Springer. [Details]
(2016) 'The role of climate in development'
Thomas K.J. McDermott, Maria del Pilar Lopez-Uribe, David Castells-Quintana (2016) 'The role of climate in development' In: The Economics of Climate Resilient Development. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. [Details]

Edited Book

  Year Publication
(2016) The Economics of Climate Resilient Development.
(2016) The Economics of Climate Resilient Development. Cheltenham, UK: Edited Book [Details]

Generic

  Year Publication
(2015) Climate change and the geographical and institutional drivers of economic development.
Thomas K.J. McDermott, Maria del Pilar Lopez-Uribe, David Castells-Quintana (2015) Climate change and the geographical and institutional drivers of economic development. London, UK: Generic [Details]
(2015) Flooded Cities.
Kocornik-Mina, A, McDermott, TKJ, Michaels, G, Rauch, F (2015) Flooded Cities. London: Generic [Details]
(2015) Coping with climate risk: the role of institutions, governance and finance in private adaptation decisions of the poor.
Thomas K.J. McDermott, Maria del Pilar Lopez-Uribe, David Castells-Quintana (2015) Coping with climate risk: the role of institutions, governance and finance in private adaptation decisions of the poor. London, UK: Generic [Details]

Reviews

  Year Publication
(2018) Adaptation to climate change: A review through a development economics lens.
Castells-Quintana, D;Lopez-Uribe, MD;McDermott, TKJ (2018) Adaptation to climate change: A review through a development economics lens. OXFORD: Reviews [DOI] [Details]