Top 14 hottest places on Earth from Tunisia to Kuwait, as heatwaves sweep much of world

 

Highest recorded temperatures in history include a sweltering 70ºC in Iran

Hayley Skirka

Evelyn Lau

Jun 22, 2024

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Last year, the world experienced the hottest day recorded on Earth.

According to data from the United States National Centres for Environmental Prediction, the world's average temperature reached 17.01ºC last July, surpassing the previous record set in August 2016, when average global temperatures reached 16.92ºC.

This year does not seem to be faring any better.

There are currently heatwave warnings around the world, including in parts of the US where more than 75 million people are under extreme heat alerts with record-high temperatures that have been matched or broken this weekend.

In Europe, Greece has experienced its earliest heatwave on record, which led to the closure of the Acropolis in Athens, with temperatures surpassing 40ºC in many parts of the country. Italy is about to reach temperatures between 42ºC and 44ºC, while a week-long heatwave continues in Cyprus with red alerts being issued as some areas reached 45ºC.

Much of northern China, including the capital Beijing, is currently under a heat warning from its National Meteorological Centre. The observatory has issued an orange alert – the second most severe warning – as temperatures surpass 40ºC. India is also currently undergoing its longest heatwave, which began last month. In northern parts of the country, as temperatures soared past 45ºC.

This year does not seem to be faring any better

There are currently heatwave warnings around the world, including in parts of the US where more than 75 million people are under extreme heat alerts with record-high temperatures that have been matched or broken this weekend.

In Europe, Greece has experienced its earliest heatwave on record, which led to the closure of the Acropolis in Athens, with temperatures surpassing 40ºC in many parts of the country. Italy is about to reach temperatures between 42ºC and 44ºC, while a week-long heatwave continues in Cyprus with red alerts being issued as some areas reached 45ºC.

Much of northern China, including the capital Beijing, is currently under a heat warning from its National Meteorological Centre. The observatory has issued an orange alert – the second most severe warning – as temperatures surpass 40ºC. India is also currently undergoing its longest heatwave, which began last month. In northern parts of the country, as temperatures soared past 45ºC. Climate change is constantly rewriting records when it comes to the world's hottest places, and temperatures upwards of 50ºC are no longer a rarity.

From Kebili in Tunisia to Kuwait's Mitribah, here are the 14 hottest places on the planet...........

..........Where are the hottest places on Earth?

Visitors in front of an unofficial thermometer at Furnace Creek Visitor Centre in Death Valley National Park, California. Getty Images

Death Valley, California, US

Furnace Creek in the US lives up to its name, with temperatures in Death Valley reaching 56.7ºC in 1913, one of the highest ever registered.

Although some scientists debate the reliability of historic readings, Death Valley reportedly also topped 54.4ºC in the summer 2020, so there's little doubt that it's one of the hottest places on Earth.

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Kebili, Tunisia

Located in the south of Tunisia and home to the biggest Saharan salt pan, Kebili recorded the highest temperature in Africa, a sultry 55ºC in 1931.

Mitribah, Kuwait

A man walks past the Kuwait Towers shrouded in heavy dust in Kuwait City. EPA

A verified reading of 54ºC was set in Kuwait, in the city of Mitribah in 2016, and the highs keep coming.

Last year, the country's local media outlets reported that 53ºC had been recorded in Al Jahra, making it one of the hottest places on the planet.

Turbat, Pakistan

Pakistan has one of the highest temperature ranges in the world, spanning everything from extremely high to very low, besides monsoons, droughts and flooding. In 2017, the mercury hit a blistering 53.7ºC in the city of Turbat in Balochistan.

Mexicali, Mexico

A temperature of 52ºC was recorded in Mexicali, Mexico, in 1995. The area, which is in the state of Baja California, is known for its heat and is even nicknamed “the city that captured the sun”. It has one of the most extreme climates in Mexico, with average high temperatures of 42.2ºC in July and average January highs of 21.1ºC.

Dallol, Ethiopia

This town in northern Ethiopia has some of the world's highest average readings for an inhabited place. Surrounded by piping hot springs and salt lakes, it has daily temperatures that regularly hit about 34ºC. There are places in the world that are hotter at given moments, but Dallol is thought to be the hottest place on average.

Aziziyah, Libya

Aziziyah previously held the crown of being the hottest place on the planet. Photo: Luca Galuzzi

This small town in Libya used to hold the distinction for being the Earth's hottest place after a 58ºC recording in 1922. Meteorologists now dispute this, but the Libyan town continues to hit peak degrees, which are regularly above 48ºC in the summer.

Wadi Halfa, Sudan

Northern Sudan is typically hot and dry with scant rainfall, and June is the most scorching month. And at Wadi Halfa, a trade outpost along the Nile River, the hottest temperature ever registered was 53ºC.

Dasht-e Lut, Iran

Dasht-e Lut is one of the hottest uninhabited places on the planet. Getty Images

Uninhabited and one of the hottest places on the planet, the Dasht-e Lut salt desert in Iran had a sweltering 70.7ºC recording back in 2005. Measurements were taken by Nasa satellites and, unlike many of the other places in this list, measured the land surface temperature, rather than air.

Quriyat, Oman

Wadi Dayqah in Quriyat, a town 120km west of Muscat in Oman, has recorded the world's highest daily low temperature. Photo: Saleh Al-Shaibany

While it's not as hot as other places on the list, Oman's Quriyat holds the record for the world's highest daily low. In June 2018, thermometers in the fishing village did not drop below 42.6ºC over a 24-hour period.

Ouargla, Algeria

A wealthy city in southern Algeria, Ouragla hit 51.3ºC in 2018. The verified temperature is one of the hottest recorded in Africa, but it's only scorching in summer. In wintertime, the mercury can dip below freezing.

Bandar-e Mahshahr, Khuzestan, Iran

This city in south-west Iran has some of the most oppressive humidity levels in the world and is thought to be the site of the globe's second-highest heat index ever registered. There are no verified records available, but air temperatures in Bandar-e Mahshahr are believed to have hit highs upwards of 70ºC, factoring in humidity.

Ghadames, Libya

This oasis in the middle of the desert, about 650km from Tripoli, is a Unesco World Heritage Site and also one of the world's hot spots, literally. An unverified reading of 55ºC was apparently seen in this desert city where mud huts help protect residents from the intense heat.

Assab, Eritrea

With an annual average temperature of 29.8ºC, Eritrea's Assab is one of the most sweltering places in the world, if you combine its average day and night temperatures. The hottest months are July and August, when the thermometer remains above 30ºC around the clock. The city is also extremely dry – receiving an average of three days of rain per year.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Steve Keen and others a Fan of Transfinancial Economics

 

A  Communication from Steve Keeen and his "Teasm"

Steve is a big fan of TFE, and would love to talk to you about it. But unfortunately because of increased demand, he only converses seriously with those inside his Rebel Economist Mastermind group.

Here's the new private link I made just for you. And no, don't worry - you don't have to watch the video all over again. You can skip it with this new link here.
https://www.stevekeenfree.com/funny-money-video-rt?email=robertsearle46@gmail.com&first_name=Robert&last_name=Searle

Best, Nicole
Dr. Keen's Executive Assistant

P.S. Dr. Keen and I really love your passion for Transfinancial economics! You sound like many inside. Would love for you to become a Rebel Economist and join us too. No worries if not.

...In intend to take the offer when time permits RS

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Steve Keen
Keen in 2013
Born	28 March 1953 (age 71) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Education	University of Sydney (BA, LLB) University of New South Wales (MComm, PhD)
Academic career
School or tradition	Post-Keynesian economics, Ecological economics
Influences	Keynes Minsky Fisher Marx Moore Sraffa Graziani Veblen Schumpeter Quesnay R. M. Goodwin Georgescu-Roegen
Contributions	Mathematical models of financial crises and debt-deflation
Information at IDEAS / RePEc

Steve Keen (born 28 March 1953) is an Australian economist and author. He considers himself a post-Keynesian, criticising neoclassical economics as inconsistent, unscientific, and empirically unsupported.

Keen was formerly an associate professor of economics at University of Western Sydney, until he applied for voluntary redundancy in 2013, due to the closure of the economics program at the university.^[1] In 2014, he became a professor and Head of the School of Economics, History and Politics at Kingston University in London. He has since taken retirement and is crowd source funded to undertake independent research as well as being a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategy Resilience & Security, University College London.^[2]

Early life and education[edit]

Keen was born in Sydney in 1953. His father was a bank manager. Keen graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1974 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1976, both from the University of Sydney. He then completed a Diploma of Education at the Sydney Teachers College in 1977.

In 1990, he completed a Master of Commerce in economics and economic history at the University of New South Wales. He completed his PhD in economics at the University of New South Wales in 1997.^[3]

Economics[edit]

Financial instability and debt deflation[edit]

Most of Steve Keen's recent work focuses on modeling Hyman Minsky's financial instability hypothesis and Irving Fisher's debt deflation.^[4][5] The hypothesis predicts an overly large private debt to GDP ratio, can cause deflation and depression. Here, the falling of the price level results in a continually rising real quantity of outstanding debt. Moreover, the continued deleveraging of outstanding debts increases the rate of deflation. Thus, debt and deflation act on and react to one another, resulting in a debt-deflation spiral. The outcome is a depression.

Debunking Economics[edit]

Keen's full-range critique of neoclassical economics is contained in his book Debunking Economics.^[6] Keen presents a wide variety of critiques on neoclassical economic theory. He argues they show neoclassical assumptions which are fundamentally flawed. Keen claims several neoclassical assumptions are empirically unsupported (that is, they are unsupported by observable and repeatable phenomena) nor are they desirable for society at large (that is, they do not necessarily produce either efficiency or equity for the majority). He argues economists' overall conclusions are very sensitive to small changes in these assumptions.

Keen has attempted to counter Karl Marx's theory (in his view Marx's pre-1857 view, specifically) from a post-Keynesian perspective, by arguing machines can add more product-value over their operational lifetime than the total value of depreciation charged "during those asset lives".

For example, the total value of sausages produced by a sausage machine over its useful life might be greater than the value of the machine. Depreciation, he implies, was the weak point in Marx's social accounting system all along. Keen argues all factors of production can add new value to outputs. However he gives credit to Marx for contributing to the "financial instability hypothesis" of Hyman Minsky.^{[7][full citation needed]}

Keen's book closes with a survey of various schools of heterodox economics, concluding "None of these is at present strong enough or complete enough to declare itself a contender for the title of 'the' economic theory of the 21st century." However, he argues neoclassical economics is a degenerative research program, not generating new knowledge. It primarily grows a belt of protective auxiliary hypotheses to shield its core beliefs from critique. There is an accompanying website which provides more detailed mathematical expositions.

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2015)

Critique of neoclassical theory of the firm[edit]

Keen has challenged the core, elementary textbook neoclassical theories of Perfect competition and Monopoly, and in particular the argument that firms in "perfect competition" and monopolies are usefully thought of as representing polar opposites. Keen has referred to this as "the theory of the firm." Neoclassical textbooks define a firm acting without any strategic awareness of the effect of its output choice on price as representing "perfect competition" and argue that this condition of "perfect competition" can be represented analytically by a horizontal demand curve facing the firm -- the firm acts as if it believes it can sell whatever it produces at the currently prevailing price, but nothing at any higher price; marginal costs for this firm, it is presumed, are rising and the firm does not want to sell more at the current price or a lower price. Something like such a state of affairs, it is sometimes argued, is approached as the number of firms competing in a market approaches infinity and the effect of any one firm's output decision on the overall market price becomes infinitesimal and can be practically disregarded by the individual firm in its decision-making. By contrast a firm with strategic awareness that its output decision markedly affects the market price, faces, presumptively, a downward-sloping demand curve: expanding the rate of output sold depresses market price. In general, elementary neoclassical textbook presentations hold that all "profit-maximizing" firms will set marginal revenue equal to marginal cost. For the firm in "perfect competition", this means price = marginal revenue = marginal cost = average (unit) cost and no profit. For the "monopoly" firm aware that its output choice affects price, the "profit-maximizing" choice is to choose a rate of output where marginal cost = marginal revenue, but in the monopolist's case, that will mean constraining output to raise price above marginal cost.

Keen challenges the theory and pedagogy of "perfect competition" and "monopoly" as polar opposites from multiple angles, arguing that they are contradictory and incoherent taken as a whole. He shows that the number of firms in a market is practically irrelevant to whether the firm's output choice affects the overall market price in the simplified (and practically unlikely) case of uniform firm cost structures and a downward-sloping market demand curve. He goes on to explore various scenarios by which multiple firms might arrive at an "equilibrium" market price and level of output. Keen further notes that cost structures are rarely uniform and that in the presence of significant economies from scale of production, a so-called "monopoly" realizing such economies of scale would be led to higher output and lower price than a large number of competing firms unable to realise such economies of scale. Keen also takes note of empirical evidence that many actual business firms are producing in a range of output where marginal cost may be less than average cost and falling, and firms openly desire to produce and sell more at current prices.^[8]

Keen's article on "profit maximisation, industry structure, and competition"^[9] has had counter-arguments by Paul Anglin.^[10] Chris Auld has additionally claimed to show that Keen & Standish's arguments are inconsistent with standard assumptions used in perfect competition, and their analysis uses calculus improperly.^[11]

Politics[edit]

In August 2015, Keen endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election.^[12] Keen ran as a senate candidate for The New Liberals in New South Wales during the 2022 Australian federal election.^[13][14]

Views on the UK's EU referendum[edit]

Keen was in favour of the UK leaving the European Union, stating mainstream economists were over-certain and exaggerating the likely effects following the country's withdrawal. Keen regards the open-borders free-movement policy of the EU as precipitate and unsustainable in the absence of a common fiscal policy; all the more so, given how migrants impose burdens on public services in destination countries also experiencing austerity.

He also states the Euro is destined to fail, not least because of the way it penalises recession-hit countries unable to pursue expansive fiscal policy, and indeed considers the whole EU project as a failed one destined for^[15] collapse.^[16]

Minsky software project[edit]

Recently, Keen commissioned the development of a software package called Minsky^[17] for visually modelling national economies, in a way that is intended to be more accurate than mainstream macroeconomic models – which he contends do not properly include debt and banking. He envisages it being used for both educational and research purposes.

The first phase of the development was funded by an academic research grant, as is typical for academic research projects – but in February 2013 Keen launched a crowdfunding project on Kickstarter to allow members of the public to contribute towards taking MINSKY to the next level of development.^[18] In the first 24 hours, this project raised approximately 15% of its funding target, and has since fully achieved its initial funding goal of $50,000.00.

Criticism[edit]

Economist Chris Auld argues that Keen's criticism of the basic model of perfect competition makes basic mathematical errors.^[19]

Matthijs Krul^[20] maintains that Keen, while broadly accurate in his criticism of the neoclassical synthesis, generally misrepresents Marx's views in Debunking Economics and in earlier work when asserting that, in the production of commodities, machinery produces more value than it costs.^[21]

Austrian School economists Robert P. Murphy and Gene Callahan claim Keen's 2001 book "suffers from many of the very faults of which he accuses the mainstream". They also claim that much of his work is "ideologically motivated even while criticising neoclassical economics for being ideological". They praise his critique of perfect competition and his chapter on dynamic vs. static models, whilst they criticise his attempts at objective value theory and what they claim is his misrepresentation of the Austrian School interpretation of Say's law.^[22]

Other publications[edit]

• Keen, Steve (2021). The New Economics. A manifesto. Polity. ISBN 9781509545292.
• Keen, Steve (2017). Can We Avoid Another Financial Crisis? Polity. ISBN 9781509513734.
• Keen, Steve (2015). Developing an economics for the post-crisis world. World Economics Association and College Publications. ISBN 9781848901865.
• Lee, Frederic S. and Steve Keen (2004): "The Incoherent Emperor: A Heterodox Critique of Neoclassical Microeconomic Theory", Review of Social Economy, V. 62, Iss. 2: 169–199
• Co-editor of: Commerce, Complexity and Evolution: Topics in Economics, Finance, Marketing, and Management: Proceedings of the Twelfth International Symposium in Economic Theory and Econometrics. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62030-9.
• The Debunking Economics Podcast: with Phil Dobbie and Prof. Steve Keen (http://debunkingeconomics.com)

See also[edit]

• Paul Ormerod
• Hyman Minsky
• Critique of political economy

References[edit]

1. ^ "Debtwatch economist Steve Keen takes UWS to Fair Work Commission, but uni gets ready to fire back". 20 January 2013. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
2. ^ ISRS, UCL staff
3. ^ Economic growth and financial instability
4. ^ The Roving Cavaliers of Credit
5. ^ Steve Keen (1995): "Finance and economic breakdown: modelling Minsky’s Financial Instability Hypothesis", Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Vol. 17, No. 4, 607–635
6. ^ Debunking Economics: The Naked Emperor of the Social Sciences (2001, Pluto Press Australia) ISBN 1-86403-070-4
7. ^ Keen, Steve The Debtwatch Manifesto 2012 http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/manifesto/
8. ^ Keen, Steve; Standish, Russell (26 June 2010). "Debunking the theory of the firm—a chronology" (PDF). Real-World Economics Review (53): 56–94.
9. ^ Steve Keen & Russel Standish (2006):"Profit Maximization, Industry Structure, and Competition: A critique of neoclassical theory" Archived 2 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine, Physica A 370: 81–85
10. ^ Paul Anglin (2008): On the proper behavior of atoms: A comment on a critique Physica A 387: 277–280
11. ^ Chris Auld (2012): Steve Keen still butchering basic microeconomics
12. ^ "The Labour party stands at a crossroads". The Guardian. 14 August 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
13. ^ How bad is the political situation in Australia right now?, archived from the original on 12 December 2021, retrieved 16 October 2021
14. ^ "Senate candidates". Australian Electoral Commission. 1 July 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
15. ^ Unia to tonący statek/Rzeczpospolita/2016/09/29 ^{[failed verification]}
16. ^ "What Next After Brexit?". Forbes.
17. ^ "Minsky". IDEA Economics: Institute for Dynamic Economic Analysis. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
18. ^ Steve Keen (2013). "Kickstarter project". Retrieved 10 February 2013.
19. ^ Chris Auld (2012): Steve Keen still butchering basic microeconomics
20. ^ Steve Keen’s Critique of Marx’s Theory of Value: A Rejoinder
21. ^ Keen, S., "Use-value, Exchange-value, and the Demise of Marx's Labor Theory of Value", Journal of the History of Economic Theory, 15 (Spring 1993).
22. ^ Review of Austrian Economics 2003 – http://www.gmu.edu/depts/rae/archives/VOL16_4_2003/6_BR_Murphy.pdf

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Steve Keen.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Steve Keen.

• Steve Keen's Patreon posts
• Steve Keen's Substack posts
• Steve Keen's Debtwatch blog
• Steve Keen on X
• Steve Keen at the Institute for New Economic Thinking
• Steve Keen's Debtwatch blog
• Minsky software at Sourceforge

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• Post-Keynesian economists
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• This page was last edited on 30 May 2024, at 23:26 (UTC).