Flexible Damage Functions

Author

James Rising, Sebastian Cadavid Sanchez, Climate Impact Lab

Published

April 30, 2026

0.1 Agriculture: Rice Country

Flexible damage function parameters at the Country level.

Change in rice yields (log change in yields) under full adaptation

Outcome units: physical — log change in rice yield (population-weighted to country)

\[D_{it} = (\alpha_i T_t + \beta_i T_t^2) \cdot Y_{it}^{\gamma}\]

where \(\gamma\) is the income elasticity (fitted globally), \(\alpha_i\) is the linear coefficient, and \(\beta_i\) is the quadratic coefficient.


1 Global Estimation

1.1 Income Elasticity Estimation

The income elasticity \(\gamma\) is estimated using a fixed-effects regression:

\[y_{it} = \gamma \cdot \log(Y_{it}) + \mu_{g(i,T)} + \nu_t + \varepsilon_{it}\]

where \(\mu_{g(i,T)}\) are region-by-temperature-bin fixed effects and \(\nu_t\) are year fixed effects.

Table 1: Income Elasticity (Gamma) Estimation Results
Statistic Value
Income elasticity (\(\gamma\)) 0.4893
Standard error 1.26e-02
95% CI [0.4646, 0.5141]
R-squared 0.5600
Observations 2,911,902
Regions 140
Gamma quantiles 19

2 Parameter Distributions

2.1 8-Panel Summary

Row 1: gamma, alpha, beta, rsqr1. Row 2: rho, zeta, eta, rsqr2.

Using median gamma: 0.489336, 140 rows (of 2,660 total)
Figure 1: Distribution of Regional Parameters

2.2 Projection Equation and Parameter Definitions

The estimated parameters are used to project damages via Monte Carlo sampling:

\[D_{it}^k = (\hat{\alpha}_{ik} T_t + \hat{\beta}_{ik} T_t^2) Y_{it}^{\hat{\gamma}_k} + \hat{\theta}_{ik} T_t Y_{it}^{\hat{\gamma}_k} + \hat{\phi}_{it}^k\]

where \(k\) indexes the Monte Carlo draw. The parameters in each row of the output CSV control distinct components of this equation:

  • gamma: income elasticity \(\hat{\gamma}_k\), one of 19 quantile values drawn from \(N(\hat{\gamma}, SE(\hat{\gamma}))\)
  • alpha, beta: linear and quadratic temperature coefficients; \(\hat{\alpha}_{ik}\) and \(\hat{\beta}_{ik}\) are drawn from the joint normal defined by the VCV below
  • sigma11, sigma12, sigma22: variance-covariance matrix of \((\alpha, \beta)\), used for joint uncertainty sampling
  • rho: correlation between regional and global polynomial residuals \(\rho_i\), used to maintain spatial covariance across regions in Monte Carlo draws
  • zeta: temperature-dependent error scale \(\zeta_{ik}\); the run-specific error term \(\hat{\theta}_{ik}\) is drawn from \(N(0, \zeta_{ik})\)
  • eta: residual noise standard deviation \(\eta_{ik}\); the annual noise \(\hat{\phi}_{it}^k\) is drawn from \(N(0, \eta_{ik})\)
  • rsqr1, rsqr2: polynomial fit quality and error model fit, respectively

2.3 Summary Statistics

Table 2: Regional Parameter Summary
Parameter Mean Median Std Min Max N
alpha 0.004681 0.003616 0.003902 2.828e-05 0.02577 140
beta -0.0006834 -0.0005046 0.000606 -0.003957 0 140
rho 0.1854 0.1898 0.04665 0.01424 0.2782 140
zeta 0.001294 0.0009785 0.00117 0.000174 0.009476 140
eta 0.002383 0.001778 0.002188 0.0003922 0.01713 140
rsqr1 0.2568 0.265 0.06596 0.0005326 0.3888 140
rsqr2 0.5322 0.5397 0.04181 0.2129 0.6619 140

3 Spaghetti Curves

Regional damage function curves showing D(T) = αT + βT² for sampled regions.

Figure 2: Regional Damage Functions

4 Zero Crossings

The zero crossing (extremum) of the parabola occurs at \(T^* = -\alpha / (2\beta)\).

Table 3: Zero Crossing Statistics
Category Count Percentage
β = 0 (no crossing) 2 1.4%
T > 20°C (beyond graph) 0 0.0%
T < 0°C (negative crossing) 0 0.0%
Valid crossings (0-20°C) 138 98.6%
Figure 3: Distribution of Zero Crossing Temperatures

5 Slope Analysis

Maximum slope between 0 and 10°C: \(\frac{dM}{dT} = \alpha + 2\beta T\)

The maximum occurs at either T=0 or T=10 (endpoints of interval).

Figure 4: Distribution of Maximum Slopes (0-10°C)

Convexity analysis omitted (beta constraint active).


6 R-squared Analysis

6.1 Polynomial Fit Quality (rsqr1)

Figure 5: Regional Fit Quality (R-squared)

6.2 Error Model R-squared (rsqr2) Quantiles

Table 4: rsqr2 Quantiles
0% (Min) 25% 50% (Median) 75% 100% (Max)
0.2129 0.5207 0.5397 0.5551 0.6619

7 Modelled Variance

Modelled variance statistic: \(1 - \frac{\sum_i \eta_i^2}{\sum_i D_i^2}\)

Table 5: Modelled Variance Statistics
Statistic Value
Modelled variance 0.8976
Sum(η²) 0.0015
Sum(D²) at T=3.0°C 0.0143
N regions 140

8 Best- and Worst-Fitting Regions

The 3 worst- and 3 best-fitting regions by R-squared, with raw simulation data overlaid on the fitted polynomial curve. Red rows = worst fits, green rows = best fits.

Table 6: Best- and worst-fitting regions
Top 3 best fit (R²)   Top 3 worst fit (R²)
Region α β η
CA- 0.00327 -4.61e-4 0.00118 0.389
NAM 0.0059 -8.62e-4 0.00215 0.376
IRN 0.00191 -2.53e-4 7.76e-4 0.366
CHE 2.92e-4 -3.22e-5 8.57e-4 0.0199
AUT 2.17e-4 -2.33e-5 5.37e-4 0.0303
MAC 2.69e-4 -3.74e-5 3.92e-4 0.0501
Figure 6: Fitted polynomial with raw data for worst-fitting regions

9 Regional Parameter Maps

Maps of key parameters at the country level. Red = negative (damage increases with T), Blue = positive.

9.1 Alpha (Linear Coefficient)

Alpha (\(\alpha\)) represents the linear sensitivity to temperature. Regions with negative alpha experience damage that increases with the first degree of warming.

Figure 7: α (linear coefficient)

9.2 Beta (Quadratic Coefficient)

Beta (\(\beta\)) represents the curvature of the damage function.

The concavity (\(\beta \leq 0\)) constraint is enforced for this sector, meaning optimal temperature exists, damages accelerate beyond it.

Figure 8: β (quadratic coefficient)

9.3 R-squared (Fit Quality)

\(R^2\) measures the polynomial fit quality. Higher values indicate that the quadratic form captures more of the variance in the data.

Figure 9: R² (stage 1 fit quality)

10 F2: Flex vs Raw Comparison

Comparison of flexible damage function predictions against raw simulation means.

For each scenario (RCP × SSP × Model), we compute at the final year:

  • Flex predicted: \((\alpha \cdot T + \beta \cdot T^2) \cdot Y^\gamma\)
  • Raw actual: The outcome variable (y) from the source data

Year 2098: 1,457,280 rows

Correlation: -0.1680 | RMSE: 1.759805 | Sign agreement: 15.7%

Top 5 best predicted   Top 5 worst predicted
Year 2098 · Tmean across these regions: 1.94°C
Region Raw Flex Residual
KGZ -0.0827 0.011 0.0937
JPN 0.177 0.406 0.229
MAC -0.174 0.112 0.286
AUT 0.457 0.11 -0.346
BRN -0.162 0.206 0.368
ZWE -0.154 5.45 5.61
LBR -0.146 3.55 3.7
MOZ -0.125 3.55 3.67
MWI -0.13 3.37 3.5
COD -0.112 3.06 3.17

Correlation: -0.3133 | RMSE: 1.330514 | Sign agreement: 10.0%

Top 5 best predicted   Top 5 worst predicted
Year 2098 · Tmean across these regions: 1.94°C
Region Raw Flex Residual
KGZ -0.0387 0.0132 0.052
JPN 0.164 0.384 0.219
MAC -0.156 0.112 0.269
MNG -0.027 0.278 0.305
SVK -0.0329 0.288 0.32
SOM -0.308 3.54 3.85
ZWE -0.213 2.51 2.73
COD -0.119 2.5 2.62
LBR -0.166 2.22 2.39
MWI -0.206 2.08 2.29

Correlation: -0.2190 | RMSE: 1.112540 | Sign agreement: 10.0%

Top 5 best predicted   Top 5 worst predicted
Year 2098 · Tmean across these regions: 1.94°C
Region Raw Flex Residual
KGZ -0.139 0.00808 0.147
JPN 0.138 0.342 0.204
MAC -0.169 0.0997 0.269
BRN -0.158 0.158 0.316
AUT 0.423 0.0944 -0.329
ZWE -0.196 3.13 3.33
MWI -0.196 1.73 1.93
MOZ -0.222 1.6 1.82
LBR -0.203 1.56 1.77
MLI -0.387 1.37 1.76

Correlation: -0.1988 | RMSE: 0.931163 | Sign agreement: 7.1%

Top 5 best predicted   Top 5 worst predicted
Year 2098 · Tmean across these regions: 1.94°C
Region Raw Flex Residual
KGZ -0.0523 0.0121 0.0644
JPN 0.148 0.355 0.207
MAC -0.17 0.0997 0.27
MNG -0.109 0.175 0.285
RWA -0.0265 0.29 0.316
SOM -0.476 1.36 1.84
IRQ -0.745 0.995 1.74
ZWE -0.763 0.851 1.61
KHM -0.157 1.38 1.53
BWA -0.519 1.01 1.53

Correlation: -0.2389 | RMSE: 1.179980 | Sign agreement: 12.9%

Top 5 best predicted   Top 5 worst predicted
Year 2098 · Tmean across these regions: 1.94°C
Region Raw Flex Residual
KGZ -0.14 0.00788 0.148
MAC -0.173 0.11 0.283
JPN 0.16 0.47 0.31
BRN -0.185 0.194 0.379
SVK -0.00199 0.39 0.392
ZWE -0.38 2.8 3.18
IDN -0.0833 1.95 2.03
GUY -0.117 1.83 1.94
BOL -0.316 1.63 1.94
IRQ -0.742 1.18 1.92

Correlation: -0.2760 | RMSE: 1.029776 | Sign agreement: 6.4%

Top 5 best predicted   Top 5 worst predicted
Year 2098 · Tmean across these regions: 1.94°C
Region Raw Flex Residual
KGZ -0.0566 0.0113 0.0679
JPN 0.149 0.391 0.242
MAC -0.174 0.11 0.284
MNG -0.056 0.233 0.289
SVK -0.04 0.281 0.321
SOM -0.404 2.05 2.45
ZWE -0.276 1.76 2.04
IRQ -0.768 1.02 1.79
COD -0.125 1.62 1.75
MWI -0.279 1.38 1.66

Correlation: -0.1097 | RMSE: 2.301630 | Sign agreement: 8.6%

Top 5 best predicted   Top 5 worst predicted
Year 2098 · Tmean across these regions: 4.17°C
Region Raw Flex Residual
KGZ -0.253 0.0236 0.277
MAC -0.196 0.139 0.335
JPN 0.207 0.57 0.363
PER 0.203 0.81 0.606
MNG -0.0341 0.572 0.607
ZWE -0.379 5.22 5.6
TGO -0.552 3.49 4.04
MWI -0.25 3.78 4.03
MLI -0.678 3.33 4.01
MOZ -0.181 3.82 4

Correlation: -0.2800 | RMSE: 1.874521 | Sign agreement: 6.4%

Top 5 best predicted   Top 5 worst predicted
Year 2098 · Tmean across these regions: 4.17°C
Region Raw Flex Residual
KGZ -0.166 0.0284 0.194
MAC -0.192 0.139 0.331
JPN 0.174 0.538 0.364
PER 0.0234 0.523 0.499
AUT 0.682 0.143 -0.539
SOM -0.716 4.2 4.91
MLI -0.964 2.25 3.21
IRQ -1.38 1.66 3.04
HTI -1.21 1.83 3.04
ZWE -0.586 2.4 2.99

Correlation: -0.2287 | RMSE: 1.657770 | Sign agreement: 5.0%

Top 5 best predicted   Top 5 worst predicted
Year 2098 · Tmean across these regions: 4.17°C
Region Raw Flex Residual
JPN 0.177 0.479 0.302
MAC -0.209 0.124 0.333
KGZ -0.415 0.0174 0.432
PRK 0.199 0.661 0.461
PER 0.0495 0.554 0.505
ZWE -0.576 3 3.57
SYR -1.51 1.17 2.68
MLI -1.09 1.57 2.67
HTI -1.17 1.39 2.56
MRT -0.987 1.56 2.54

Correlation: -0.1939 | RMSE: 1.447881 | Sign agreement: 5.7%

Top 5 best predicted   Top 5 worst predicted
Year 2098 · Tmean across these regions: 4.17°C
Region Raw Flex Residual
KGZ -0.201 0.026 0.227
JPN 0.209 0.498 0.289
MAC -0.182 0.124 0.306
PRK 0.15 0.55 0.401
PER -0.062 0.399 0.461
SOM -1.03 1.61 2.64
IRQ -1.54 1.07 2.61
ZWE -1.71 0.814 2.52
BWA -1.33 1.18 2.51
HTI -1.38 0.851 2.23

Correlation: -0.1936 | RMSE: 1.673337 | Sign agreement: 9.3%

Top 5 best predicted   Top 5 worst predicted
Year 2098 · Tmean across these regions: 4.17°C
Region Raw Flex Residual
MAC -0.16 0.136 0.296
JPN 0.251 0.659 0.408
KGZ -0.434 0.0169 0.451
PRK 0.248 0.752 0.503
HKG 0.0767 0.669 0.592
ZWE -0.87 2.68 3.55
IRQ -1.51 1.27 2.78
BWA -1.2 1.52 2.73
MAR -1.06 1.65 2.71
BOL -0.604 2 2.6

Correlation: -0.2892 | RMSE: 1.563704 | Sign agreement: 3.6%

Top 5 best predicted   Top 5 worst predicted
Year 2098 · Tmean across these regions: 4.17°C
Region Raw Flex Residual
KGZ -0.248 0.0243 0.273
MAC -0.213 0.136 0.349
JPN 0.169 0.548 0.379
PRK 0.132 0.603 0.471
PER -0.0675 0.431 0.498
SOM -0.934 2.43 3.36
IRQ -1.58 1.09 2.67
BWA -1.37 1.15 2.52
ZWE -0.813 1.69 2.5
MLI -1.21 1.26 2.47
Note · countries with no rice data (shown white on every map above; the GCP rice pipeline does not run sims for non-producing countries): ABW, AIA, ALA, AND, ARE, ASM, ATA, ATF, ATG, BEL, BES, BHR, BHS, BIH, BLM, BMU, BRB, BVT, Canada, CCK, CL-, COK, CPV, CUW, CXR, CYM, CYP, CZE, Germany, DJI, DMA, DNK, ESH, EST, FIN, FLK, FRO, FSM, GBR, GGY, GIB, GLP, GNQ, GRD, GRL, GUM, HMD, HRV, IMN, IOT, IRL, ISL, ISR, JEY, JOR, KIR, KNA, KWT, LBN, LBY, LCA, LIE, LTU, LUX, LVA, MAF, MCO, MDV, MHL, MLT, MNP, MSR, MTQ, MUS, MYT, NCL, NFK, NIU, NLD, Norway, NRU, NZL, OMN, PCN, PLW, PRI, PSE, PYF, QAT, SAU, SGS, SHN, SJM, SMX, SP-, SPM, STP, SVN, SWE, SYC, TCA, TKL, TON, TUV, UMI, VAT, VCT, VGB, VIR, VUT, WLF, WSM, YEM.

10.1 Scenario Summary

Table 7: Fit statistics across all 12 scenarios
RCP SSP Model N Corr RMSE Sign%
rcp45 SSP2 high 140 -0.168 1.75981 15.7%
rcp45 SSP2 low 140 -0.3133 1.33051 10.0%
rcp45 SSP3 high 140 -0.219 1.11254 10.0%
rcp45 SSP3 low 140 -0.1988 0.931163 7.1%
rcp45 SSP4 high 140 -0.2389 1.17998 12.9%
rcp45 SSP4 low 140 -0.276 1.02978 6.4%
rcp85 SSP2 high 140 -0.1097 2.30163 8.6%
rcp85 SSP2 low 140 -0.28 1.87452 6.4%
rcp85 SSP3 high 140 -0.2287 1.65777 5.0%
rcp85 SSP3 low 140 -0.1939 1.44788 5.7%
rcp85 SSP4 high 140 -0.1936 1.67334 9.3%
rcp85 SSP4 low 140 -0.2892 1.5637 3.6%

11 Data Reference

11.1 File Locations

Item Path
Regional CSV /project/cil/gcp/flex_damage_funcs/parameters/agriculture__rice_country__regional_parameters.csv
Global JSON /project/cil/gcp/flex_damage_funcs/parameters/agriculture__rice_country__global_results.json
Metadata JSON /project/cil/gcp/flex_damage_funcs/parameters/agriculture__rice_country__metadata.json

11.2 Column Definitions

Column Description
region Region identifier (hierarchical code, first 3 chars = country ISO3)
gamma Income elasticity quantile value
alpha Linear temperature coefficient
beta Quadratic temperature coefficient
sigma11 Var(alpha)
sigma12 Cov(alpha, beta)
sigma22 Var(beta)
rho Correlation with global residual process
zeta Temperature-dependent heteroskedasticity
eta Residual standard deviation
rsqr1 R-squared of polynomial fit
rsqr2 R-squared of error model

Report generated with FlexDamage v1.0.0