IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/enreec/v54y2013i4p471-494.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic Causes of Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: A Panel Data Analysis for the 2000s

Author

Listed:
  • Jorge Hargrave
  • Krisztina Kis-Katos

Abstract

We use under-explored municipality level datasets to assess the recent economic and policy determinants of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. We estimate yearly panel data models (from 2002 to 2009) for 663 municipalities in the region. The results show that recent deforestation is increasing with economic activity and is also affected by economic incentives, measured by fluctuations in agricultural product and wood prices. Moreover, we document that the increasing enforcement efforts of the Brazilian environmental police (IBAMA) were effective in reducing deforestation rates. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Jorge Hargrave & Krisztina Kis-Katos, 2013. "Economic Causes of Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: A Panel Data Analysis for the 2000s," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 54(4), pages 471-494, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:54:y:2013:i:4:p:471-494
    DOI: 10.1007/s10640-012-9610-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10640-012-9610-2
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10640-012-9610-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mendonça, Mário Jorge & Loureiro, Paulo R.A. & Sachsida, Adolfo, 2012. "The dynamics of land-use in Brazilian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 23-36.
    2. Araujo, Claudio & Bonjean, Catherine Araujo & Combes, Jean-Louis & Combes Motel, Pascale & Reis, Eustaquio J., 2009. "Property rights and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(8-9), pages 2461-2468, June.
    3. Andersen,Lykke E. & Granger,Clive W. J. & Reis,Eustaquio J. & Weinhold,Diana & Wunder,Sven, 2002. "The Dynamics of Deforestation and Economic Growth in the Brazilian Amazon," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521811972.
    4. Pacheco, Pablo, 2009. "Agrarian Reform in the Brazilian Amazon: Its Implications for Land Distribution and Deforestation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 1337-1347, August.
    5. Angelsen, Arild, 1999. "Agricultural expansion and deforestation: modelling the impact of population, market forces and property rights," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 185-218, February.
    6. Claudio Ferraz & Frederico Finan, 2008. "Exposing Corrupt Politicians: The Effects of Brazil's Publicly Released Audits on Electoral Outcomes," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(2), pages 703-745.
    7. Claudio Ferraz, 2015. "Explaining Agriculture Expansion and Deforestation: Evidence from the Brazilian Amazon – 1980/98," Discussion Papers 0106, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada - IPEA.
    8. Fearnside, Philip M., 2003. "Conservation Policy in Brazilian Amazonia: Understanding the Dilemmas," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 757-779, May.
    9. Shimshack, Jay P. & Ward, Michael B., 2005. "Regulator reputation, enforcement, and environmental compliance," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 519-540, November.
    10. Ludewigs, Thomas & D'antona, Alvaro de Oliveira & Brondízio, Eduardo Sonnewend & Hetrick, Scott, 2009. "Agrarian Structure and Land-cover Change Along the Lifespan of Three Colonization Areas in the Brazilian Amazon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 1348-1359, August.
    11. Pfaff, Alexander S. P., 1999. "What Drives Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon?: Evidence from Satellite and Socioeconomic Data," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 26-43, January.
    12. Alston, Lee J. & Libecap, Gary D. & Mueller, Bernardo, 2000. "Land Reform Policies, the Sources of Violent Conflict, and Implications for Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 162-188, March.
    13. Alexander Pfaff & Juan Robalino & Robert Walker & Steven Aldrich & Marcellus Caldas & Eustaquio Reis & Stephen Perz & Claudio Bohrer & Eugenio Arima & William Laurance & Kathryn Kirby, 2007. "Road Investments, Spatial Spillovers, And Deforestation In The Brazilian Amazon," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1), pages 109-123, February.
    14. Kapoor, Mudit & Kelejian, Harry H. & Prucha, Ingmar R., 2007. "Panel data models with spatially correlated error components," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 97-130, September.
    15. Eugenio Y. Arima & Cynthia S. Simmons & Robert T. Walker & Mark A. Cochrane, 2007. "Fire In The Brazilian Amazon: A Spatially Explicit Model For Policy Impact Analysis," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 541-567, August.
    16. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    17. Robalino, Juan A. & Pfaff, Alexander, 2012. "Contagious development: Neighbor interactions in deforestation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 427-436.
    18. Windmeijer, Frank, 2005. "A finite sample correction for the variance of linear efficient two-step GMM estimators," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(1), pages 25-51, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marchand, Sébastien, 2012. "The relationship between technical efficiency in agriculture and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 166-175.
    2. Pascale COMBES MOTEL & Jean-Louis COMBES & Catherine ARAUJO BONJEAN & Claudio ARAUJO & Eustaquio J. REIS, 2010. "Does Land Tenure Insecurity Drive Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon?," Working Papers 201013, CERDI.
    3. Faria, Weslem Rodrigues & Almeida, Alexandre Nunes, 2016. "Relationship between openness to trade and deforestation: Empirical evidence from the Brazilian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 85-97.
    4. Sébastien Marchand, 2011. "Technical Efficiency, Farm Size and Tropical Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazonian Forest," CERDI Working papers halshs-00552981, HAL.
    5. Jorge Hargrave Gonçalves da Silva, 2011. "Economic Causes ofDeforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: an Empirical Analysis of the2000s," Anais do XXXVII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 37th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 190, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    6. Fonseca Morello, Thiago & Marchetti Ramos, Rossano & O. Anderson, Liana & Owen, Nathan & Rosan, Thais Michele & Steil, Lara, 2020. "Predicting fires for policy making: Improving accuracy of fire brigade allocation in the Brazilian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    7. Sébastien MARCHAND, 2010. "Technical Ef?ciency, Farm Size and Tropical Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazonian Forest," Working Papers 201012, CERDI.
    8. Araujo, Claudio & Bonjean, Catherine Araujo & Combes, Jean-Louis & Combes Motel, Pascale & Reis, Eustaquio J., 2009. "Property rights and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(8-9), pages 2461-2468, June.
    9. Faria, Weslem & de Almeida, Alexandre, 2013. "Relationship between Openness to Trade and Deforestation: Empirical Evidence from the Brazilian Amazon," TD NEREUS 3-2013, Núcleo de Economia Regional e Urbana da Universidade de São Paulo (NEREUS).
    10. Araujo, Claudio & Bonjean, Catherine Araujo & Combes, Jean Louis & Motel, Pascal Combes & Reis, Eustaquio Jose, 2008. "Land Reform And Deforestation In The Brazilian Amazonia," 46th Congress, July 20-23, 2008, Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil 108618, Sociedade Brasileira de Economia, Administracao e Sociologia Rural (SOBER).
    11. Sonia SCHWARTZ & Jean Galbert ONGONO OLINGA & Eric Nazindigouba KERE & Pascale COMBES MOTEL & Jean-Louis COMBES & Johanna CHOUMERT & Ariane Manuela AMIN, 2014. "A spatial econometric approach to spillover effects between protected areas and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," Working Papers 201406, CERDI.
    12. Bragança, Arthur & Dahis, Ricardo, 2022. "Cutting special interests by the roots: Evidence from the Brazilian Amazon," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    13. Mendonça, Mário Jorge & Loureiro, Paulo R.A. & Sachsida, Adolfo, 2012. "The dynamics of land-use in Brazilian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 23-36.
    14. Weslem Faria & Alexandre Almeida, 2011. "Agricultural Expansion, Openness to Trade and Deforestation at the Brazilian Amazon: A Spatial Econometric Analysis," ERSA conference papers ersa11p1013, European Regional Science Association.
    15. Claudio ARAUJO & Catherine ARAUJO BONJEAN & Jean-Louis COMBES & Pascale COMBES MOTEL & Eustaquio J. REIS, 2006. "Land tenure insecurity and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazonia," Working Papers 200615, CERDI.
    16. Araujo, Claudio & Combes, Jean-Louis & Féres, José Gustavo, 2019. "Determinants of Amazon deforestation: the role of off-farm income," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(2), pages 138-156, April.
    17. Claudio Ferraz, 2015. "Explaining Agriculture Expansion and Deforestation: Evidence from the Brazilian Amazon – 1980/98," Discussion Papers 0106, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada - IPEA.
    18. Bittencourt, Manoel, 2011. "Inflation and financial development: Evidence from Brazil," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 91-99.
    19. Amin, A. & Choumert-Nkolo, J. & Combes, J.-L. & Combes Motel, P. & Kéré, E.N. & Ongono-Olinga, J.-G. & Schwartz, S., 2019. "Neighborhood effects in the Brazilian Amazônia: Protected areas and deforestation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 272-288.
    20. Cisneros, Elías & Börner, Jan & Pagiola, Stefano & Wunder, Sven, 2022. "Impacts of conservation incentives in protected areas: The case of Bolsa Floresta, Brazil," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Causes of deforestation; Amazon; Brazil; Q56;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:54:y:2013:i:4:p:471-494. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.