Previous studies

This chapter will describe our econometric model of land clearing and economic development in the Brazilian Amazon. First, however, we briefly review some of the methodological approaches that have been used in previous empirical studies of the topic and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each. These studies can be broadly categorized as cross-country studies, regional-level analyses (such as our own), Geographical Information System (GIS) studies, and micro-level studies. For a more in-depth discussion of alternative models of tropical deforestation, we refer readers to Barbier and Burgess (2001), who also provide an excellent bibliography of recent studies.

In principle, cross-country analyses permit investigations into the relationships between the rate of deforestation and macroeconomic and institutional factors such as economic growth, population growth, openness, trade policies, political regime, indebtedness, devaluation rates, inequality, education, inflation, etc. Many of these factors vary only at the national level, and thus can be analyzed only in a cross-country context. However, serious problems beset these models, including the poor quality of data and the heterogeneity between countries. Most of these analyses are based on FAO estimates of forest cover or forest loss.