Business & Economics

Dr Thomas McDermott

B.Comm., M.Sc. PhD

Contact Details

Lecturer Above The Bar
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS & ECONOMICS
NUI GALWAY
E: THOMAS.MCDERMOTT@nuigalway.ie

Biography

I am the Galway University Foundation Lecturer in the Economics of Climate Change and Development at the J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics at NUI, Galway, and a founding member of the Centre for Economic Research on Inclusivity and Sustainability (CERIS) at NUI Galway.

My research is at the intersection of environmental and development economics. In particular, I study the economic and social impacts of extreme weather events such as floods, as well as how societies and economies adapt and respond to changing environmental risk. I have published widely, including in leading economics journals, as well as more generalist science and social science journals. My Google Scholar profile is here. I am also co-editor with Sam Fankhauser of The Economics of Climate Resilient Development (Edward Elgar, 2016).

Details of my latest research are available on my website here.

I have previously consulted for the World Bank (Investing in Disaster Risk Management in an Uncertain Climate), the Asian Development Bank (Lead Consultant for Strengthening Disaster Resilience, ADO 2019), 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). My research has also been funded by the Irish EPA, and I am a former IRC Government of Ireland Research Fellow.

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.

Research Interests

My research interests are at the intersection of the economics of climate change and development economics, with a focus on empirical evaluation of the economic impacts of extreme weather events, such as floods, and on issues of public policy related to the economics of adaptation to climate change.

Peer Reviewed Journals

	Year	Publication
	(2020)	'The urbanising force of global warming: the role of climate change in the spatial distribution of population' Castells-Quintana, David; Krause, Melanie; McDermott, Thomas K.J. (2020) 'The urbanising force of global warming: the role of climate change in the spatial distribution of population'. Journal Of Economic Geography, [Details]
	(2020)	'Flooded Cities' Adriana Kocornik-Mina, Thomas K.J. McDermott, Guy Michaels, Ferdinand Rauch (2020) 'Flooded Cities'. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 12 (2):35-66 [ARAN Link] [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)	'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'. World Development, 104 :183-196 [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)	'Climate Resilient Development: An Introduction' Fankhauser, S.; McDermott, T. (2016) 'Climate Resilient Development: An Introduction' In: The Economics of Climate Resilient Development. Cheltenham: 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]

Published Reports

	Year	Publication
	(2019)	Adaptive Responses to Climate Impacts (ARC): Costing the Impacts of Climate Change on the Irish Economy and Assessing the Options for Adaptation. McDermott, T.; Doran, J.; Kilgarriff, P.; Surminski, S.; Perez-Alaniz, M. (2019) Adaptive Responses to Climate Impacts (ARC): Costing the Impacts of Climate Change on the Irish Economy and Assessing the Options for Adaptation. Environmental Protection Agency, Johnstown Castle. [Details]
	(2019)	EU-ETS and Competitiveness of Irish Industry. McInerney, C.; O'Connor, E.; Power, B.; Deane, P.; McDermott, T. (2019) EU-ETS and Competitiveness of Irish Industry. Environmental Protection Agency, Johnstown Castle. [Details]
	(2019)	Strengthening Disaster Resilience. McDermott, T.; Ferrarini, B.; Noy, I. (2019) Strengthening Disaster Resilience. Asian Development Bank, Manila. [Details]

Edited Book

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

Committees

	Committee	Function	From / To
	Economics Exams Committee	Member	/
	Athena Swan Self Assessment Team	Member of Group E (staff comms and culture survey)	/

Modules Taught

Term/Year	Module Title	Module Code
Semester 1, 2020/21	Climate Change Economics	EC5118
Semester 2, 2020/21	Environmental Economic Modelling	EC5115
Semester 1, 2020/21	Ireland in the Global Economy	EC423