We offer a nationwide analysis of the initial years of Costa Rica’s PSA program, which pioneered environmental-services payments and inspired similar initiatives. Our estimates of this program’s…

To address simultaneity and the presence of spatially correlated unobservables, we measure for neighbors' deforestation using the slopes of neighbors' and neighbors' neighbors' parcels. We estimate…

We argue for integrating the consideration of location in policy planning in three ways, in order to help to predict policy impacts on deforestation and, thereby, improve policy choices. Policies must…

To support conservation planning, we ask whether a park's impact on deforestation rates varies with observable land characteristics that planners could use to prioritize sites. Using matching methods…

Global efforts to reduce tropical deforestation rely heavily on the establishment of protected areas. Measuring the effectiveness of these areas is difficult because the amount of deforestation that…

Evaluating its impact using the deforestation observed in matched untreated areas, we find that Costa Rica’s ‘PSA’ program of payments for environmental services had little effect on 1997-2000 forest…

To support conservation planning, we ask whether a park’s impact on deforestation varies with observable characteristics that planners could use to prioritize sites. Using matching methods to avoid…

We evaluated the intention, implementation, and impact of Costa Rica’s program of payments for environmental services (PSA), which was established in the late 1990s. Payments are given to private…