Quantifying the soil erosion legacy of the Soviet Union

David Wuepper, Pasquale Borrelli, Daniel Mueller and Robert Finger
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Daniel Müller

Agricultural Systems, 2020, vol. 185, issue C

Abstract: We examine the historical legacy of the Soviet Union on the current rate of human-induced soil erosion in its successor countries. We use a spatial regression discontinuity design and high-resolution soil erosion data. Our results suggest strong discontinuities in current soil erosion rates along the former border of the Soviet Union. We find that soil erosion in countries that were part of the former Soviet Union is 26% lower than in neighboring countries (0.77 tons per hectare and year). In contrast, we do not find such discontinuity in potential soil erosion under natural vegetation, underlining that this effect is man-made. We show that the main mechanism is a sharp discontinuity in forest dynamics, whereas general economic and demographic differences are less important.

Keywords: Soil erosion; RUSLE; Farmland abandonment; Forest dynamics; Historical legacies; Spatial regression discontinuity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agisys:v:185:y:2020:i:c:s0308521x20308015

DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2020.102940

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