IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/enreec/v87y2024i10d10.1007_s10640-024-00905-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Rise of Transnational Financial Crimes and Tropical Deforestation

Author

Listed:
  • Yacouba Kassouri

    (Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Leipzig University
    Prague University of Economics and Business)

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of trade-related illicit financial flows (IFFs) on tropical deforestation. To adjust for pre-exposure differences in deforestation rates between countries exposed to IFFs and their counterfactuals, this study adopts propensity score matching and doubly robust weighted regression estimators. The results suggest substantial increases in forest loss in countries exposed to large IFFs. Specifically, the treated countries exposed to IFFs experience an annual increase in forest loss of approximately 10,344.167 hectares compared to their counterfactual controls. This finding is largely driven by macro-financial instability resulting from real currency depreciation and tax revenue losses due to illicit financial outflows. The results highlight the merit of capital controls and state ownership of assets in mitigating the impact of exposure to IFFs on forest loss.

Suggested Citation

  • Yacouba Kassouri, 2024. "The Rise of Transnational Financial Crimes and Tropical Deforestation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 87(10), pages 2795-2831, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:87:y:2024:i:10:d:10.1007_s10640-024-00905-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10640-024-00905-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10640-024-00905-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10640-024-00905-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aizenman, Joshua & Pasricha, Gurnain Kaur, 2013. "Why do emerging markets liberalize capital outflow controls? Fiscal versus net capital flow concerns," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 28-64.
    2. Arcand, Jean-Louis & Guillaumont, Patrick & Jeanneney, Sylviane Guillaumont, 2008. "Deforestation and the real exchange rate," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 242-262, June.
    3. Samuel GUERINEAU & Pascale COMBES MOTEL & Jean-Louis COMBES, 2008. "Deforestation and credit cycles in Latin American countries," Working Papers 200808, CERDI.
    4. Moritz A. Drupp, 2018. "Limits to Substitution Between Ecosystem Services and Manufactured Goods and Implications for Social Discounting," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 69(1), pages 135-158, January.
    5. Langenmayr, Dominika & Zyska, Lennard, 2023. "Escaping the exchange of information: Tax evasion via citizenship-by-investment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    6. Damette, Olivier & Delacote, Philippe, 2012. "On the economic factors of deforestation: What can we learn from quantile analysis?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 2427-2434.
    7. Ndikumana, Leonce & Boyce, James K., 2003. "Public Debts and Private Assets: Explaining Capital Flight from Sub-Saharan African Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 107-130, January.
    8. Robin Burgess & Matthew Hansen & Benjamin A. Olken & Peter Potapov & Stefanie Sieber, 2012. "The Political Economy of Deforestation in the Tropics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(4), pages 1707-1754.
    9. Zwane, Alix Peterson, 2007. "Does poverty constrain deforestation? Econometric evidence from Peru," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 330-349, September.
    10. Quaas, Martin F. & Baumgärtner, Stefan & Drupp, Moritz A. & Meya, Jasper N., 2020. "Intertemporal utility with heterogeneous goods and constant elasticity of substitution," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    11. Combes, J.-L. & Combes Motel, P. & Minea, A. & Villieu, P., 2015. "Deforestation and seigniorage in developing countries: A tradeoff?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 220-230.
    12. Juliano Assunção & Clarissa Gandour & Romero Rocha & Rudi Rocha, 2020. "The Effect of Rural Credit on Deforestation: Evidence from the Brazilian Amazon," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(626), pages 290-330.
    13. Franklin, Sergio L. & Pindyck, Robert S., 2018. "Tropical Forests, Tipping Points, and the Social Cost of Deforestation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 161-171.
    14. Kurt Schmidheiny & Sebastian Siegloch, 2023. "On event studies and distributed‐lags in two‐way fixed effects models: Identification, equivalence, and generalization," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(5), pages 695-713, August.
    15. Salemi, Colette, 2021. "Refugee camps and deforestation in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    16. Dianah Ngui Muchai & Joseph Muchai, 2016. "Fiscal Policy and Capital Flight in Kenya," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 28(S1), pages 8-21, April.
    17. Hartwick, John M., 1990. "Natural resources, national accounting and economic depreciation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 291-304, December.
    18. Dukpa Kim & Tatsushi Oka, 2014. "Divorce Law Reforms And Divorce Rates In The Usa: An Interactive Fixed‐Effects Approach," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 231-245, March.
    19. Kahn, James R. & McDonald, Judith A., 1995. "Third-world debt and tropical deforestation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 107-123, February.
    20. Harouna Kinda & Noel Thiombiano, 2021. "The effects of extractive industries rent on deforestation in developing countries," Post-Print hal-03344196, HAL.
    21. Clark Lundberg & Ryan Abman, 2022. "Maize price volatility and deforestation," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(2), pages 693-716, March.
    22. Moon, Hyungsik Roger & Weidner, Martin, 2017. "Dynamic Linear Panel Regression Models With Interactive Fixed Effects," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 33(1), pages 158-195, February.
    23. André Moulemvo, 2016. "Impact of Capital Flight on Public Social Expenditure in Congo†Brazzaville," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 28(S1), pages 113-123, April.
    24. Combes, Jean-Louis & Delacote, Philippe & Combes Motel, Pascale & Yogo, Thierry Urbain, 2018. "Public spending, credit and natural capital: Does access to capital foster deforestation?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 306-316.
    25. Leonce Ndikumana & Mare Sarr, 2019. "Capital Flight, Foreign Direct Investment and Natural Resources in Africa," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2019-12, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    26. Edward B. Barbier, 2001. "The Economics of Tropical Deforestation and Land Use: An Introduction to the Special Issue," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 77(2), pages 155-171.
    27. Bhattarai, Madhusudan & Hammig, Michael, 2001. "Institutions and the Environmental Kuznets Curve for Deforestation: A Crosscountry Analysis for Latin America, Africa and Asia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 995-1010, June.
    28. A. Yasemin Yalta, 2010. "Effect of Capital Flight on Investment: Evidence from Emerging Markets," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(6), pages 40-54, November.
    29. Angelsen, Arild & Kaimowitz, David, 1999. "Rethinking the Causes of Deforestation: Lessons from Economic Models," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 14(1), pages 73-98, February.
    30. Ryan Abman & Clark Lundberg, 2020. "Does Free Trade Increase Deforestation? The Effects of Regional Trade Agreements," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(1), pages 35-72.
    31. Mr. Tidiane Kinda & Mr. Montfort Mlachila & Rasmané Ouedraogo, 2016. "Commodity Price Shocks and Financial Sector Fragility," IMF Working Papers 2016/012, International Monetary Fund.
    32. Samarina, Anna & Bezemer, Dirk, 2016. "Do capital flows change domestic credit allocation?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 98-121.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jean-Louis Combes & Pascale Combes Motel & Philippe Delacote, 2014. "Public expenses, credit and natural capital: Substitution or complementarity?," Working Papers halshs-00979191, HAL.
    2. Yacouba Coulibaly, 2023. "Can Resource-backed Loans Mitigate Climate Change ?," Working Papers hal-04072352, HAL.
    3. Combes, Jean-Louis & Delacote, Philippe & Combes Motel, Pascale & Yogo, Thierry Urbain, 2018. "Public spending, credit and natural capital: Does access to capital foster deforestation?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 306-316.
    4. Leblois, Antoine & Damette, Olivier & Wolfersberger, Julien, 2017. "What has Driven Deforestation in Developing Countries Since the 2000s? Evidence from New Remote-Sensing Data," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 82-102.
    5. Ajanaku, B.A. & Collins, A.R., 2021. "Economic growth and deforestation in African countries: Is the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis applicable?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    6. Damette, Olivier & Delacote, Philippe, 2012. "On the economic factors of deforestation: What can we learn from quantile analysis?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 2427-2434.
    7. Combes, J.-L. & Combes Motel, P. & Minea, A. & Villieu, P., 2015. "Deforestation and seigniorage in developing countries: A tradeoff?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 220-230.
    8. Ajanaku, Bolarinwa & Collins, Alan R., 2020. "Economic growth and deforestation in developing countries: Is the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis Still Applicable? Evidence from a Panel of Selected African Countries," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304271, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Bård Harstad, 2020. "Trade and Trees: How Trade Agreements Can Motivate Conservation Instead of Depletion," CESifo Working Paper Series 8569, CESifo.
    10. Heydari, Hassan & Jariani, Farzaneh, 2020. "Analyzing Effective Factors of Capital Outflow from the Middle East and North African Countries (MENA)," MPRA Paper 104547, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Laetitia Duval & François-Charles Wolff, 2009. "L'effet des transferts migratoires sur la déforestation dans les pays en développement," Working Papers hal-00421222, HAL.
    12. Kinda, Harouna & Thiombiano, Noel, 2021. "The effects of extractive industries rent on deforestation in developing countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    13. Wehkamp, Johanna & Koch, Nicolas & Lübbers, Sebastian & Fuss, Sabine, 2018. "Governance and deforestation — a meta-analysis in economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 214-227.
    14. Nelson B. Villoria & Derek Byerlee & James Stevenson, 2014. "The Effects of Agricultural Technological Progress on Deforestation: What Do We Really Know?," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 36(2), pages 211-237.
    15. Simplice Asongu & Joseph Amankwah-Amoah, 2016. "Military expenditure, terrorism and capital flight: Insights from Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 16/018, African Governance and Development Institute..
    16. Combes Motel, P. & Pirard, R. & Combes, J.-L., 2009. "A methodology to estimate impacts of domestic policies on deforestation: Compensated Successful Efforts for "avoided deforestation" (REDD)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 680-691, January.
    17. Simplice A. Asongu & Rexon T. Nting & Evans S. Osabuohien, 2019. "One Bad Turn Deserves Another: How Terrorism Sustains the Addiction to Capital Flight in Africa," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 501-535, September.
    18. Pascale COMBES MOTEL & Jean-Louis COMBES & Catherine ARAUJO BONJEAN & Claudio ARAUJO & Eustaquio J. REIS, 2010. "Does Land Tenure Insecurity Drive Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon?," Working Papers 201013, CERDI.
    19. Asongu, Simplice A. & Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph, 2018. "Mitigating capital flight through military expenditure: Insight from 37 African countries," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 38-53.
    20. Novice Patrick Bakehe, 2019. "The effects of migrant remittances on deforestation in the Congo basin," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(4), pages 2361-2373.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Illicit financial flows; Deforestation; Forest cover loss; Tropical countries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F2 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business
    • F4 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:87:y:2024:i:10:d:10.1007_s10640-024-00905-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.