Both theory and evidence regarding forest-relevant decisions by various agents suggest that there are significant constraints on the effectiveness of domestic policies for REDD (i.e., in facilitating a reduction in emissions from deforestation and forest degradation). Economic theory and...

Frontier expansion in the Brazilian Amazon is often described as “boom-bust” development. We critically assess this characterization by mapping and estimating statistical models of welfare as a function of deforestation at the municipal level. After controlling for potential confounding...

Pervasive tenure insecurity in developing countries is a key challenge for REDD+. Brazil, a leader in REDD+, has advanced efforts to link forest tenure reform and environmental compliance. We describe how these policies have shaped sub-national interventions with detailed data on land tenure and...

Qualitative interviews with participants in the cocoa (<em>Theobroma cacao</em>) supply chain in Costa Rica and the United States were conducted and supplemented with an analysis of the marketing literature to examine the prospects of organic and Fairtrade certification for enhancing environmentally and...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether mining can serve as a pathway for economic development despite the environmental externalities. The extensive literature on the “resource curse” phenomenon at the national level generally finds that economic dependence on...

Costa Rica's Program of Payments for Environmental Services (Pago de Servicios Ambientales, PSA) provides a unique opportunity to evaluate direct payments as a conservation policy tool. This paper reports evidence on how much more forest has been conserved in Costa Rica as a result of PSA...