The Political Economy of Deforestation in the Tropics

Robin Burgess, Matthew Hansen, Benjamin Olken, Peter Potapov and Stefanie Sieber

Working Papers from eSocialSciences

Abstract: Tropical deforestation accounts for almost one-fifth of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and threatens the world.s most diverse ecosystems. The prevalence of illegal forest extraction in the tropics suggests that understanding the incentives of local bureaucrats and politicians who enforce forest policy may be critical to combating tropical deforestation. Support for this thesis is found using a novel satellite-based dataset that tracks annual changes in forest cover across eight years of institutional change in post-Soeharto Indonesia. Increases in the numbers of political jurisdictions are associated with increased deforestation and with lower prices in local wood markets, consistent with a model of Cournot competition between jurisdictions. [BREAD working paper No. 339]. URL:[http://ipl.econ.duke.edu/bread/papers/working/339.pdf].

Keywords: Tropical deforestation; greenhouse gas emissions; diverse ecosystems; post-Soeharto Indonesia; forest policy; local wood markets; bureaucrats; politicians; climate changes; land use zones; legal logging; rent-extraction; political coalitions; oil; gas rents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-05
Note: Institutional Papers
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (162)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Political Economy of Deforestation in the Tropics (2012)
Working Paper: The Political Economy of Deforestation in the Tropics (2012)
Working Paper: The Political Economy of Deforestation in the Tropics (2012)
Working Paper: The Political Economy of Deforestation in the Tropics (2012)
Working Paper: The Political Economy of Deforestation in the Tropics (2011)
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