We examine within-country time series data on income and concentrations of SO2 smoke, and particulates to see if the shapes of pollution-income relationships in individual countries agree qualitatively with predictions of the environmental Kuznets curve. The shapes of these relationships are...

The structure and occurrence of debt-for-nature swaps are examined empirically. Contracts executing debt-for-nature swaps are studied to assess the role of transaction costs in determining how these agreements are structured. The emerging contract form is a product of weak enforcement of legal...

Relationships between deforestation and population pressure, income growth, and insecure property rights are examined with data from 120 countries. Insecure property rights are hypothesized to arise from two sources: government instability or inability to enforce ownership and an absence of...

Historical accounts of forest cover changes over the last three millennia are compared to contemporaneous human history, to shed light on factors contributing to large scale changes in forest stocks. Insecure ownership, for example, during wartime and periods of unrest, tends to accompany...