The Origins and Control of Forest Fires in the Tropics.
Environmental externalities—uncompensated damages imposed on others—lie at the root of climate change, pollution, deforestation and biodiversity loss. Empirical evidence is limited, however, as to how externalities drive private decision making. We study one such behaviour, illegal tropical forest f...
| Published in: | Review of Economic Studies Vol. 93; no. 4; pp. 2348 - 2390 |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Article |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Jul2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=195161455&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 195161455 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00346527 REM jtl: Review of Economic Studies issn: 00346527 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jul2026 vid: 93 iid: 4 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 195161455 10.1093/restud/rdaf088 ppf: 2348 ppct: 42 formats: tig: atl: The Origins and Control of Forest Fires in the Tropics. aug: au: Balboni, Clare Burgess, Robin Olken, Benjamin A affil: Department of Economics, LSE, London, UK Department of Economics, MIT, Cambridge, USA su: Indonesia Tropics Property rights Environmental economics Deforestation Legal sanctions Climate change Forest fires Remote-sensing images Tropical climate sug: subj: Property rights Environmental economics Deforestation Legal sanctions Climate change Indonesia Tropics Forest fires Remote-sensing images Tropical climate keyword: Conservation copyrightHolder:Review of Economic Studies Ltd copyrightYear:2026 Environment Externalities inLanguage:en publisher:Oxford University Press Remote sensing sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdaf088 Wildfires Conservation copyrightHolder:Review of Economic Studies Ltd copyrightYear:2026 Environment Externalities inLanguage:en publisher:Oxford University Press Remote sensing sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdaf088 Wildfires ab: Environmental externalities—uncompensated damages imposed on others—lie at the root of climate change, pollution, deforestation and biodiversity loss. Empirical evidence is limited, however, as to how externalities drive private decision making. We study one such behaviour, illegal tropical forest fires, using 15 years of daily satellite data covering over 107,000 fires across Indonesia. Weather-induced variation in fire spread risk and variation in who owns surrounding land allow us to identify how far externalities influence the decision to use fire. Relative to when all spread risks are internalized, we find that firms overuse fire when surrounded by unleased government lands where property rights are weak. In contrast, and consistent with the Coase Theorem, firms treat risks to nearby private concessions similarly to risks to their own land. Government sanctions, concentrated on fires spreading to populated areas, also deter fires, consistent with Pigouvian deterrence. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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