A New Dataset on Climate Distance for Trade Analyses

This data article describes a new dataset on measures of climate distance for trade analyses. The dataset contains, (i) time-varying measures of long-run climate conditions for twenty economies accounting for two-third of global agri-food exports and representatives of different prevailing climates, and (ii) the difference in long-run climate conditions between country-pairs, here defined as Climate Distance. Measures of long-run climate conditions are computed, for each year in the sample (1996 to 2015), as 30-years rolling averages of weather conditions (i.e., climate normals or climatologies) in each country. Our climate measures are based on elaboration of data collected from the World Bank's Climate Change Knowledge Portal (CCKP), containing historical information on weather conditions. We also provide data on bilateral trade flows, tariffs, and policies, as provided by publicly available datasets. Our measures of climate change allow a more precise evaluation of structural changes in trade routes associated with climate comparative advantages.