We provide empirical evidence indicating that changes in surface temperatures may directly impact manufacturing output through their impact on worker productivity. We utilize a multi-year panel of manufacturing plants in India, as well as daily worker productivity measures from selected...

Hotter years are associated with lower economic output in developing countries. We show that the effect of temperature on labor is an important part of the explanation. Using microdata from selected firms in India, we estimate reduced worker productivity and increased absenteeism on hot days....