Does Democracy Guarantee (De)Forestation? An Empirical Analysis

International Area Studies Review (IASR), Forthcoming

41 Pages Posted: 4 Jan 2017

See all articles by Anders Gaarder

Anders Gaarder

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

Krishna Chaitanya Vadlamannati

University College Dublin (UCD) - Department of Politics

Date Written: January 1, 2017

Abstract

It is a commonly held view that democracy is better at safeguarding environment while autocracy is predatory in nature, and is thus insensitive towards environment. However, others argue that democracy leads to environmental degradation. We revisit this contentious relationship between regime type and environment degradation in the context of deforestation. Using panel data on 139 countries during the 1990-2012 period, we find that democracy is associated with lower levels of forest coverage. Although our results appear counter-intuitive, further analyses reveal the positive effect of democracy on forest area coverage is conditional upon the level of economic development. Roughly, at per capita income of about US$ 8200, the impact of democracy on forest coverage becomes positive. Our results suggest that a democratic government’s priority to tackle environmental problem depends on its level of economic development. These results also highlight the fundamental reason as to why there is a lack of coordinated effort between developing and developed countries in addressing environmental issues.

Keywords: Afforestation, Democracy, Economic Development

Suggested Citation

Gaarder, Anders and Vadlamannati, Krishna Chaitanya, Does Democracy Guarantee (De)Forestation? An Empirical Analysis (January 1, 2017). International Area Studies Review (IASR), Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2892250

Anders Gaarder

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) ( email )

Høgskoleringen
Trondheim NO-7491, 7491
Norway

Krishna Chaitanya Vadlamannati (Contact Author)

University College Dublin (UCD) - Department of Politics ( email )

Belfield
Dublin 4
Ireland

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