Climate adaptation economics: Bibliometrics, methods, and mechanisms

Climate change poses significant challenges to ecosystems, economic development, and human health, positioning adaptation as a critical component of global climate risk management. Here we provide a systematic review on the economics of climate adaptation, synthesizing advances, frontier debates, and research priorities. Through a bibliometric analysis of 6,248 publications from 1978 to 2025, we trace the evolution of research trends and knowledge structures. We then evaluate core methodological approaches, highlighting their strengths in capturing behavioral responses, estimating causal effects, and modeling dynamic optimization, while noting a shift from static frameworks to integrated, multi-method analyses. Empirical findings reveal diverse adaptation strategies: households adapt through consumption changes, agricultural practices, and migration, whereas firms respond via product diversification, relocation, supply chain reconfiguration, and technological innovation—responses mediated by resource endowments, institutional frameworks, and behavioral constraints. Theoretical progress clarifies the interplay between adaptation and mitigation, the role of adaptation assistance in fostering global climate cooperation, and the welfare effects of market-driven strategies. Future research should prioritize the empirical identification of heterogeneous adaptation behaviors; focus on vulnerable regions; and long-term dynamic modeling, alongside theoretical progress in damage function specification, uncertainty modeling, the integration of social and political economy, network-based approaches, and methodological innovation.