This paper studies the relationship between land tenure for smallholder agriculture and deforestation in Viet Nam. We combine high resolution satellite data on deforestation with rich household and commune-level, biannual panel data. We study two margins of tenure security, whether a household...

Although improving agricultural productivity is vital to anti-poverty and food security goals, its ecological effects are theoretically ambiguous. Increasing the relative value of agricultural land may spur deforestation, but factor market constraints paired with improvements in existing land...