The environmental costs of political interference: Evidence from power plants in the Amazon

IF 4.8 1区 经济学 Q1 ECONOMICS
Francisco Costa , Dimitri Szerman , Juliano Assunção
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This paper estimates the impacts of ten recently built hydroelectric power plants in the Brazilian Amazon on deforestation. Using the inventory of all sites with undeveloped hydropower potential, we apply the synthetic control method to estimate the causal impact of each power plant on forest loss. Overall, the construction of the ten plants contributed to 13 percent of the observed forest loss within a 50-kilometer radius of the construction site. Notably, this impact is solely attributed to four plants. In at least three of these plants, construction licenses were granted despite technical recommendations against them. In contrast, the remaining plants, which received technical clearance from the environmental agency, have negligible effects. These findings highlight the effectiveness of robust environmental regulations and underscore their vulnerability to high-level political interference.
政治干预的环境代价:来自亚马逊地区发电厂的证据
本文估计了巴西亚马逊地区新建的10座水电站对森林砍伐的影响。利用所有水电潜力未开发场址的清单,应用综合控制方法估算各电厂对森林损失的因果影响。总的来说,这10个工厂的建设造成了建筑工地50公里半径内观察到的森林损失的13%。值得注意的是,这种影响仅归因于四种植物。其中至少有三座核电站,尽管有技术上的反对意见,但还是获得了施工许可证。相比之下,获得环境机构技术许可的其余工厂的影响可以忽略不计。这些发现强调了强有力的环境法规的有效性,并强调了它们容易受到高层政治干预的影响。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
14.10
自引率
2.00%
发文量
139
审稿时长
70 days
期刊介绍: The Journal of Public Economics aims to promote original scientific research in the field of public economics, focusing on the utilization of contemporary economic theory and quantitative analysis methodologies. It serves as a platform for the international scholarly community to engage in discussions on public policy matters.
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