This paper shows that the level of deforestation in Indonesia is positively related to the degree of ethnic fractionalization at the district level. To identify a casual relation we exploit the exogenous timing of variations in the level of ethnic heterogeneity due to the creation of new...

We show that the level of deforestation in Indonesia is positively correlated with the degree of ethnic fractionalization of the communities. We explore several channels that may link the two variables. They include the negative effect of ethnic fractionalization on the ability to coordinate and...

Does climate change policy cause companies to shift the location of production, thereby creating carbon leakage? We examine the impact of the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) on the geographical distribution of carbon emissions within multinational companies based on data from...

This paper investigates the relationship between investment in new and second-hand capital goods and energy intensity. Using a panel dataset of about 4,500 Chilean firms for the period 2001-2007, we find that both types of investment help reducing energy intensity although second-hand machinery...

This paper examines the unintended effects of the 2006 reform of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process in India using firm-level data for the period 1998-2012. The reform favored a decentralization process by delegating the responsibility over environmental clearance of certain...

Tenure insecurity can have important consequences for the conservation of natural resources. Land titling is often considered a solution to the problem of weak investment incentives under tenure insecurity. Using a large plot-level dataset from Malawi, this paper shows that land titling alone...

We examine the effect of inter-group fiscal competition on within-group violent conflict. Using a triple difference design, we exploit exogenous variation in the degree to which villages in sub-districts compete for public funds. We find that higher competition between villages reduces conflict...