Journal Article

The Review of Economic Studies:

The Origins and Control of Forest Fires in the Tropics

Clare Balboni, Robin Burgess and Benjamin Olken

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...Read more...

Journal Article

American Economic Review:

In Harm's Way? Infrastructure Investments and the Persistence of Coastal Cities

Clare Balboni

Coasts contain a disproportionate share of the world's population, reflecting historical advantages, but environmental change threatens a reversal of coastal fortune in the coming decades as natural disasters intensify a...Read more...

Journal Article

Annual Review Economics:

The Economics of Tropical Deforestation

Clare Balboni, Aaron Berman, Robin Burgess and Benjamin Olken

Two factors have elevated recent academic and policy interest in tropical deforestation: first, the realization that it is a major contributor to climate change; and second, a revolution in satellite-based measurement th...Read more...

Journal Article

AEA Papers and Proceedings:

Cycles of Fire? Politics and Forest Burning in Indonesia

Clare Balboni, Robin Burgess, Anton Heil, Jonathan Old and Benjamin Olken

This paper examines the link between electoral incentives and environmental degradation by exploiting a satellite dataset on 107,000 forest fires and 879 asynchronous district elections in Indonesia. Fires represent a ch...Read more...

Book

Heat, Greed and Human Need
Climate Change, Capitalism and Sustainable Wellbeing

Ian Gough

Watch Professor Ian Gough present his new book which aims to build an essential bridge between climate change and social policy: Download slides from the launch event here This book buil...Read more...

Book

Why are We Waiting? The Logic, Urgency, and Promise of Tackling Climate Change

An urgent case for climate change action that forcefully sets out, in economic, ethical, and political terms, the dangers of delay and the benefits of action. The risks of climate change are potentially immense. The bene...Read more...

Development Discussion Paper

The Political Economy of Deforestation in the Tropics

Robin Burgess, Matthew Hansen, Benjamin Olken, Peter Potapov and Stefanie Sieber

Tropical deforestation accounts for almost one-…fifth of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and threatens the world’s most diverse ecosystems. The prevalence of illegal forest extraction in the tropics suggests that unde...Read more...