Outlet: Penn Today | Image: Monty Rakusen/getty images

R. Jisung Park, an environmental and labor economist at the School of Social Policy & Practice, discusses climate change and the impact of extreme heat on academic success and worker productivity.

On hot days, workers are much more likely to get hurt on the job. Trains are more likely to be delayed, flight cancellations and postponements increase, and labor productivity falls.

These are just some of the ways, says environmental and labor economist R. Jisung Park, that environmental factors like climate change impact economic opportunity.

“All these little drips of productivity loss and subtle burns here and there really add up and are some of the most important ways in which climate change affects not only cities, but also our economy more broadly,” Park says.

Park, an assistant professor in the School of Social Policy & Practice with a secondary appointment in the Wharton School, studies how extreme heat affects workers and labor market inequality, the consequences of natural disasters for human capital, and how workers and firms adapt to a changing environment.

Penn Today sat down with Park to discuss climate change and the impact of extreme heat on worker productivity and educational attainment.