IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rfa/journl/v6y2018i10p23-34.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corrupt Actions and Forest Loss: A Cross-National Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Jamie M Sommer

Abstract

Extant literature documents the negative environmental impacts of corruption on forest loss. More recently, research has shown that both grand and petty corruption are associated with higher levels of forest loss in low- and middle-income nations. However, the extant research neglects to assess how different types of grand and petty corruption impact forest loss. To address the gap in the literature, this article differentiates the effect of various types of corrupt actions on forest loss. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression for a sample of 87 low- and middle-income nations from 2000 is used to test if grand corrupt actions, namely embezzlement and bribes, and petty corrupt actions including theft and corrupt exchanges are related to increased forest loss. The dependent variable uses satellite forest data from 2001 to 2014. Results show that embezzlement, bribes, theft, and corrupt exchanges all impact forest loss, which suggests that policy measures to curb corruption should take a holistic approach to corruption, rather than rely on individual interventions.

Suggested Citation

  • Jamie M Sommer, 2018. "Corrupt Actions and Forest Loss: A Cross-National Analysis," International Journal of Social Science Studies, Redfame publishing, vol. 6(10), pages 23-34, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:rfa:journl:v:6:y:2018:i:10:p:23-34
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://redfame.com/journal/index.php/ijsss/article/view/3534/3786
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://redfame.com/journal/index.php/ijsss/article/view/3534
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Iversen, Vegard & Chhetry, Birka & Francis, Paul & Gurung, Madhu & Kafle, Ghanendra & Pain, Adam & Seeley, Janet, 2006. "High value forests, hidden economies and elite capture: Evidence from forest user groups in Nepal's Terai," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 93-107, June.
    2. Barrett, Christopher B. & Gibson, Clark C. & Hoffman, Barak & McCubbins, Mathew D., 2005. "The complex links between governance and biodiversity," Working Papers 14758, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    3. Andrew K. Jorgenson, 2006. "The Transnational Organization of Production and Environmental Degradation: A Cross‐National Study of the Effects of Foreign Capital Penetration on Water Pollution Intensity, 1980–1995," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 87(3), pages 711-730, September.
    4. Barbier, Edward B. & Damania, Richard & Leonard, Daniel, 2005. "Corruption, trade and resource conversion," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 276-299, September.
    5. Karen Ehrhardt‐Martinez & Edward M. Crenshaw & J. Craig Jenkins, 2002. "Deforestation and the Environmental Kuznets Curve: A Cross‐National Investigation of Intervening Mechanisms," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 83(1), pages 226-243, March.
    6. Bulte, Erwin H. & Damania, Richard & Lopez, Ramon, 2007. "On the gains of committing to inefficiency: Corruption, deforestation and low land productivity in Latin America," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 277-295, November.
    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. Andrew Hargrove & Feng Hao & Jamie Marie Sommer, 2022. "Governing trade: a cross-national study of governance, trade, and CO2 emissions," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 12(4), pages 727-738, December.
    2. Kelly Wendland & David Lewis & Jennifer Alix-Garcia, 2014. "The Effect of Decentralized Governance on Timber Extraction in European Russia," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 57(1), pages 19-40, January.
    3. Sébastien MARCHAND, 2010. "Historical and Comparative Institutional Analysis: Evidences from Deforestation," Working Papers 201016, CERDI.
    4. Halkos, George E. & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2014. "Public sector transparency and countries’ environmental performance: A nonparametric analysis," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 19-37.
    5. Wang, Sen & DesRoches, C. Tyler & Sun, Lili & Stennes, Brad & Wilson, Bill & van Kooten, G. Cornelis, 2007. "Linking Forests and Economic Well-Being: A Four-Quadrant Approach," Working Papers 37036, University of Victoria, Resource Economics and Policy.
    6. Marchand, Sébastien, 2016. "The colonial origins of deforestation: an institutional analysis," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(3), pages 318-349, June.
    7. Haiqing Hu & Di Chen & Chun‐Ping Chang & Yin Chu, 2021. "The Political Economy Of Environmental Consequences: A Review Of The Empirical Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 250-306, February.
    8. Barbier, Edward B. & Tesfaw, Anteneh, 2015. "Explaining forest transitions: The role of governance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 252-261.
    9. Abman, Ryan, 2018. "Rule of Law and Avoided Deforestation from Protected Areas," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 282-289.
    10. Kolstad, Ivar & Søreide, Tina, 2009. "Corruption in natural resource management: Implications for policy makers," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 214-226, December.
    11. Haochi Zheng & Paul Glewwe & Stephen Polasky & Jintao Xu, 2011. "Reputation, Policy Risk, and Land Use: A Study of China's 'Grain for Green' Programme," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2011-039, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. 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.
    13. Haochi Zheng & Paul Glewwe & Stephen Polasky & Jintao Xu, 2011. "Reputation, Policy Risk,and Land Use: A Study of China’s ‘Grain for Green’ Programme," WIDER Working Paper Series 039, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Khan, Syed Abdul Rehman & Zaman, Khalid & Zhang, Yu, 2016. "The relationship between energy-resource depletion, climate change, health resources and the environmental Kuznets curve: Evidence from the panel of selected developed countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 468-477.
    15. Andersson, Krister P. & Smith, Steven M. & Alston, Lee J. & Duchelle, Amy E. & Mwangi, Esther & Larson, Anne M. & de Sassi, Claudio & Sills, Erin O. & Sunderlin, William D. & Wong, Grace Y., 2018. "Wealth and the distribution of benefits from tropical forests: Implications for REDD+," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 510-522.
    16. Qingqian He & Qing Meng & William Flatley & Yaqian He, 2022. "Examining the Effects of Agricultural Aid on Forests in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Causal Analysis Based on Remotely Sensed Data of Sierra Leone," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-20, April.
    17. Ghimire, Narishwar & Woodward, Richard T., 2013. "Under- and over-use of pesticides: An international analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 73-81.
    18. Pandit, Ram & Bevilacqua, Eddie, 2011. "Forest users and environmental impacts of community forestry in the hills of Nepal," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 345-352, June.
    19. 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).
    20. Qianqian Shao & Thorsten Janus & Maarten J. Punt & Justus Wesseler, 2018. "The Conservation Effects of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Biased Policymakers," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-22, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    corrupt actions; embezzlement; bribes; theft; corrupt exchanges; cross-national;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    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:rfa:journl:v:6:y:2018:i:10:p:23-34. 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: Redfame publishing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    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.