Non-cognitive skills and climate change adaptation: empirical evidence from Ghana’s pineapple farmers

In the context of accelerating climate change, it is important to understand the determinants of farmers’ adaptive capacity. Here, we focus on the role of non-cognitive skills, including perceived self-efficacy, locus of control beliefs, and time preferences. Our sample consists of 398 pineapple farmers in Southern Ghana and we rely on instrumental variables to identify the causal effect. We find that those with higher non-cognitive skills are more likely to respond to the adversities of climate change by adopting a climate smart technology (mulching). When exploring why, we find that they perceive their costs of innovation adoption as lower.