Forest taxes, timber concessions, and policy choices in the amazon

Journal of Sustainable Forestry

Volumn 20, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 15-44

  Merry, Frank D ^a   Amacher, Gregory S ^b  

^a WOODS HOLE RESEARCH CENTER   (United States)

^b VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Amazon rainforest; Brazil; Forest policy; Forest taxes; Royalties

Indexed keywords

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES; ECONOMICS; PUBLIC POLICY; TAXATION; TIMBER;

FOREST POLICY; FOREST TAXES; RAINFOREST; TIMBER CONCESSIONS;

FORESTRY;

ENVIRONMENTAL TAX; FORESTRY POLICY; TIMBER HARVESTING; TROPICAL FOREST;

BRAZIL; DEVELOPING COUNTRIES; ECONOMICS; FOREST MANAGEMENT; FORESTRY; FORESTS; TAXES;

AMAZONIA; SOUTH AMERICA; WESTERN HEMISPHERE; WORLD;

EID: 24144490699     PISSN: 10549811     EISSN: 1540756X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1300/J091v20n02_02     Document Type: Article

References (124)

1. Akella, S.A., J.B. Cannon, and H. Orlando. 2002. Enforcement Economics and the Fight against Forest Crime: Lessons Learned from the Atlantic Forest of BrasilSynopsis. Conservation International, Washington, DC and the Instituto de Estudos Socio-Ambientais da Sul da Bahia (IESB), Bahia. 4 p.
2. Almeida, O.T. and C. Uhl. 1995. Brazil’s rural land tax: Tools for simulating productive and sustainable land use in the Eastern Amazon. Land Use Policy 12:105-114.
3. Alston, L.J., G.D. Libecap, and B. Mueller. 1999. Titles, Conflict, and Land Use: The Development of Property Rights and Land Reform on the Brazilian Amazon Frontier. The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. 227 p.
4. Amacher, G., D. Brazee, and T. Thompson. 1991. The effects of forest productivity taxes on optimal rotation age and initial stand investment. Forest Science 37: 1099-1118.
5. Amacher, G.S, W.F. Hyde, and K. Kenal. 1996. Forest fuelwood policy when households collect and others purchase fuelwood. Journal of Forest Economics 2:273-288.
6. Amacher, G.S. 1997. The design of forest taxation: A synthesis with new directions. Silva Fennica 31:101-119.
7. Amacher, G.S., and R.J. Brazee. 1997a. Designing forest taxes with budget targets and varying government preferences. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 32:323-340.
8. Amacher G.S. and R.J. Brazee. 1997b. Forest quality, government revenue constraints and the second-best efficiency of regressive forest taxes. Canadian Journal of Forestry Research 27:1503-1508.
9. Amacher, G.S., M. Rios, L. Constantino, and R. J. Brazee. 1997. The design of second best forest incentives in small open economies: Chile’s forestry incentives program. Forest Science 44:165-173.
10. Amacher, G.S., W. Cruz, D. Grebner, and W. Hyde. 1998. Environmental motivation for migration: Population pressure, poverty, and deforestation in the Philippines. Land Economics 74:92-101.
11. Amacher, G.S. 1999. Government Preferences and Public Forest Harvesting: A Second Best Approach. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 81:14-28.
12. Amacher, G.S., R. Brazee, and M. Witvliet. 2001. Royalty systems, government revenues, and forest condition: An application from Malaysia. Land Economics 77: 300-313.
13. Amacher, G.S. 2002. Forest taxation and many governments. 2002. Forest Science 48:146-157.
14. Amacher, G., E. Koskela, and M. Ollikainen. 2002. Optimal forest taxation in an overlapping generations model with timber bequests. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 44:346-369.
15. Amaral, P., A. Veríssimo, P. Barreto, and E. Vidal. 1998. Floresta para sempre: Um manual para produ§ao de madeira na Amazonia. Imazon, Belém, Brasil.
16. Angelsen, A. 1999. Agricultural expansion and deforestation: Modeling the impact of population, market forces and property rights. Journal of Development Economics 58:185-218.
17. Arima, E. and P. Barreto. 1999. Rentabilidade da Produ§ao de Madeira am Terras Públicas e Privadas na Regiao de Cinco Florestas Nacionais da Amazonia. Ministério do Meio Ambiente, Brasilia. Projeto UTF/BRA/047. 41 p.
18. Aronsson, T. 1993. The impact of non-linear income tax on the supply of roundwood in Sweden. Journal of Public Economics 50:231-252.
19. Athey, S., and J. Levin. 2001. Information and competition in US Forest Service timber auctions. Journal of Political Economy 109:375-416.
20. Baldwin, L.H., R.C. Marshall, and J.F. Richard. 1997. Bidder collusion at US forest timber sales. Journal of Public Economics 105:657-699.
21. Barbier, E. and J. Burgess. 1995. The linkages between the timber trade and tropical deforestation: Indonesia. The World Economy 18:411-442.
22. Barreto, P., P. Amaral, E. Vidal, and C. Uhl. 1998. Costs and benefits of forest management for timber production in eastern Amazonia. Forest Ecology and Management 108:9-26.
23. Barreto, P. and E. Arima. 2002. Florestas Nacionais na Amazonia: Consulta a empresários madereiros e atores afins á política florestal. Ministério do Meio Ambiente, Brasilia. 64 p.
24. Barut, Y., D. Kovenock, and C.N. Noussair. 2002. A comparison of multiple unit all-pay and winner-pay auctions under incomplete information. International Economic Review 43:675-708.
25. Bayindir-Uppman, J. 1998. Fiscal Policy and Environmental Welfare: Modeling Inter-jurisdictional Competition. Edward Elgar Press, Cambridge, UK, 141 p.
26. Binswanger, H.P. 1991. Brazilian policies that encourage deforestation in the Amazon. World Development 19:821-829.
27. Bluffstone, R. 1990. Reducing degradation of forests in poor countries when permanent solutions elude us: What instruments do we really have? Environment and Development Economics 3:2995-317.
28. Bosello, F., C. Carraro, and M. Galeotti. 2001. The double dividend issue: Modeling strategies and empirical findings. Environment and Development Economics 6:9-45.
29. Bosquet, B. 2000. Environmental tax reform: Does it work? A survey of the empirical evidence. Ecological Economics 34:19-32.
30. Bowles Olhagaray, A. 2002. Caracteristicas y Situacion Actual del Modelo de Concesiones Forestales de Bolivia. Paper presented at the ITTO International Conference on Tropical Timber. Belém, Brazil, October 2002.
31. Boyd, R. 1986. Forest Taxation: Current Issues and Future Research. Research Note, USDA Forest Service Southern Forest Experiment Station, Research Note SE-338 (March).
32. Brannman, L., J.D. Klein, and L.W. Weis. 1987. The price effects of increased competition in auction markets. The Review of Economics and Statistics 69:24-32.
33. Breendon, F. and J. Ganley. 2000. Bidding and information: Evidence from gilt-edged auctions. The Economic Journal 110:963-984.
34. Brett, C. and M. Keen. 2000. Political uncertainty and the earmarking of taxes. Journal of Public Economics 75:315-340.
35. Browder, J.O. 1988. Public Policy and Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. In Public Policies and the Misuse of the Forest Resource. R. Repetto and M. Gillis, (eds.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. pp. 247-298.
36. Bruce, R.W. 1976. Produ§ao e distribuyo da Madeira Amazónica. Projeto de Desenvolvimiento e Pesquisa Florestal. Série Estudos 4, PNUD-FAO-IBDF-BRA-45. 90 p.
37. Buschbacher, R. 1990. National forest management in the humid tropics: Ecological, social, and economic considerations. Ambio 19:253-258.
38. Bye, B. 2002. Taxation, unemployment, and growth: Dynamic welfare effects of “green” policies. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 43:1-19.
39. Cropper, M. and W. Oates. 1992. Environmental economics: A survey. Journal of Economic Literature 30: 675-740.
40. Deacon, R. 1994. Deforestation and the rule of law in a cross section of countries. Land Economics 70.
41. De Graff, N.R. 1986. A Silvicultural System for Natural Regeneration of Tropical Rain Forest in Suriname. Dissertation, Wageningen Agricultural University, Netherlands. 250 p.
42. De Mooij, R.A. and A.L. Bovenberg. 1998. Environmental taxes, international capital mobility and inefficient tax systems: Tax burden vs. tax shifting. International Tax and Public Finance 5:7-39.
43. Duffield, N.W., C.J. Neher, and T.C. Brown. 1992. Recreation benefits of instream flow: application to Montana’s Big Hole and Bitterroot rivers. Water Resources Research 28:2169-2181.
44. Dufwenberg, M. and U. Gneezy. 2002. Information disclosure in auctions: An experiment. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 48:431-444.
45. Englin, J. and M. Klan. 1990. Optimal taxation: Timber and externalities. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 18:263-275.
46. FAO. 1986. Forest Legislation in Selected African Countries. FAO Forestry Paper 65. 339 p.
47. FAO. 1993. Forest Policies of Selected Countries in Asia and the Pacific. FAO Forestry Paper 115. 247 p.
48. Funda§ao Floresta Tropical (FFT). 1998. Manual de Procedimentos Técnicos para Condu§ao de Manejo Florestal e Explorado de Impacto Reduzido. FFT, Belém, Brazil. 76 p.
49. Gray, J.A. 1983. Forestry Revenue Systems in Developing Countries. FAO Forestry Paper 43. Rome.
50. Gray, J.A. 1997. Underpricing and overexploitation of tropical forests: Forest pricing in the management, conservation and preservation of tropical forests. Journal of Sustainable Forestry 4:75-97.
51. Gray, J.A. 1999. Regime de Propriedade Florestal e Valorado de Florestas Públicas no Brasil. Ministério do Meio Ambiente, Brasilia. Projeto TCP/BRA/047. 127 p.
52. Gray, J.A. 2000. Forest Concessions: Experience and Lessons from Countries around the World. Paper presented at IUFRO International Symposium-Integrated Management of NeoTropical Rain Forests by Industries and Communities. Belém, Pará, Brazil. 20 p.
53. Grut, M., Gray, J.A., and N. Egli. 1991. Forest Pricing and Concession Policies: Managing the High Forests of West and Central Africa. World Bank Technical Paper Number 143, Africa Development Series, Washington, DC.
54. Hardner, J.J. and R. Rice. 1999. Rethinking Forest Concession Policies. In Forest and Resource Policy in Latin America. K. Keipi (ed.). Inter American Development Bank, Washington, DC, pp.161-194.
55. Hartman, R. 1976. The harvesting decision when a standing forest has value. Economic Inquiry 14:52-58.
56. Heinsdijk, D. 1966. Report to the Government of Brazil on Forest Inventory. Part I. FAO, Report No. 2159. Rome.
57. Hendricks, K. and R.H. Porter. 1988. An empirical study of an auction with asymmetric information. The American Economic Review 78:865-883.
58. Holmes, T.P., G.M. Blate, J.C. Zweede, R. Pereira, P Barreto, F. Boltz, and R. Bauch. 1999. Financial costs and benefits of reduced impact logging relative to conventional logging in the Eastern Amazon. Tropical Forest Foundation, Washington, DC.
59. Hyde, W.F. and D.H. Newman. 1991. Forest Economics and Policy Analysis: An Overview. World Bank Discussion Papers, No. 134. The World Bank, Washington, DC, 92 p.
60. Hyde, W.F. and R.A. Sedjo. 1992. Managing tropical forests: Reflections on the rent distribution discussion. Land Economics 68:343-350.
61. Hyde, W.F. and J. Kuuluvainen. 1996. Timber Pricing Policy in Lao PDR. WorldBank Discussion Paper. Washington, DC.
62. Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recusros Naturais Renováveis (IBAMA). 2002. Comercializado de Produtos Madereiros da Amazonia 1999-2000. IBAMA, Brasilia, Brazil. 90 p.
63. International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). 2002. Achieving the ITTO Objective 2000 and Sustainable Forest Management in Brazil. Report submitted to the International Tropical Timber Council. Yokahama, Japan. 91 p.
64. Johnson, R.N. 1979. Auction Markets, Bid Preparation Costs and Entrance Fees. Land Economics 55:313-349.
65. Kahn, J.R. and A. Farmer. 1999. The double-dividend, second-best worlds, and real-world environmental policy. Ecological Economics 30:433-439.
66. Klemperer, W.D. 1977. Unmodified property tax-Is it fair? Journal of Forestry 75: 650-652.
67. Klemperer, W.D. 1982. An analysis of selected property tax exemptions for timber. Land Economics 58:293-309.
68. Klemperer, W.D. 1986. Ambiguities and pitfalls in forest productivity taxation. Journal of Forestry 81:16-19
69. Klemperer, W.D. 1996. Forest Economics and Finance. New York: McGraw Hill. 569 p.
70. Koskela, E. and M. Ollikainen. 1997. The optimal design of forest taxes with multiple use characteristics of forest stands. Environmental and Resource Economics 10: 41-62.
71. Koskela, E. and M. Ollikainen. 1999. Optimal forest taxation and public harvesting under multiple use. Forest Science 45:251-271.
72. Lanly, J. P. 1982. Tropical Forestry Resources. FAO Forestry Paper 30. Rome.
73. Lele, U., V. Viana, A. Verissimo, S. Vosti, K. Perkins, and S.A. Husain. 2000. Brazil: Forest in the Balance: Challenges of Conservation with Development. The World Bank Evaluation Country Case Studies, Washington, DC, 185 p.
74. Leruth, L., R. Paris, and I. Ruzika. 2001. The Complier Pays Principal: The Limits of Fiscal Approaches toward Sustainable Forest Management. IMF Staff Papers 48 (2): 397-422.
75. Ligthart, J.E. and F. Van der Ploeg. 1999. Environmental policy, tax incidence, and the cost of public funds. Environmental and Resource Economics 13:187-207.
76. Lima, E. and F.D. Merry. n.d. Barriers to export-led development of the forest sector in the Brazilian Amazon. Report submitted to the International Institute for Economic Development, London, UK. 35 p.
77. Lippman, S. and J. McCall. 1981. Progressive taxation in sequential decision making. Journal of Public Economics 16:35-52.
78. Lipsey, R. and K. Lancaster. 1957. The general theory of the second best. Review of Economic Studies 24:11-32.
79. Mekonnen, A. 1999. Rural household biomass fuel production and consumption in Ethiopia: A case study. Journal of Forest Economics 5(1).
80. Mendelsohn, R. 1993. Nonlinear forest taxes. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 24:296-299.
81. Mendelsohn, R. 1994. Property rights and tropical deforestation. Oxford Economic Papers 46:750-756.
82. Mercado, R.S. 1980. Timber Production and Marketing in the Brazilian Amazon. PhD dissertation. Michigan State University.
83. Merry, F.D. and D.R. Carter. 2001. An analysis of the Bolivian mahogany export market with policy implications for the forest sector. Forest Policy and Economics 2:281-291.
84. Milgron, P.R. and R.J. Weber. 1982. A theory of auctions and competitive bidding. Econometrica 50:1089-1122.
85. Ministerio do Meio Ambiente (Ministry of Environment). 2001. National Forest Program PNF. Brasilia, Brasil. 52 p.
86. Mueller, B. 1997. Property rights and the evolution of a frontier. Land Economics 73:42-57.
87. Nepstad, D.C., A. Verissimo, A. Alencar, C. Nobre, E. Lima, P. Lefebvre, P. Schlesinger, C. Potter, P. Moutinho, E. Mendoza, M. Cochrane, and V. Brooks. 1999. Large-Scale impoverishment of Amazonian forests by logging and fire. Nature 398:505-508.
88. Nepstad, D.C., G. Carvalho, A.C. Barros, A. Alencar, J. P. Capobianco, J. Bishop, P. Moutinho, P. Lefebvre, and U.L. Silva Jr. 2001. Road paving, fire regime feedbacks, and the future of the Amazon forests. Forest Ecology and Management 154(3): 395-407.
89. Nepstad, D.C., D. McGrath, A. Alencar, A.C. Barros, G. Carvalho, M. Santilli, and M. del Vera Diaz. 2002. Frontier governance in Amazonia. Science 295:629-631.
90. Nepstad, D.C., A. Alencar, A.C. Barros, E. Lima, E. Mendonza, C.A. Ramos, and P. Lefebvre. 2003. Governing the Amazon Timber Industry. In: Working Forests in the American Tropics: Conservation through Sustainable Management? D. Zarin and F. Putz, (eds). Columbia University Press, New York.
91. Oates, W. 1994. Federalism and Government Finance. In Modern Public Finance, Quigley, J., and E. Smolensky (eds.). Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp. 126-161.
92. Ollikainen, M. 1998. Sustainable forestry, timber bequests, and forest taxation. Environmental and Resource Economics 12(3):255-273.
93. Paris, R., I. Ruzicka, and H. Speechly. 1994. Performance guarantee bonds for commercial management of natural forests-early experience from the Philippines. Commonwealth Forestry Review 73:106-112.
94. Parry, I.W.H. and A.M. Bento. 2000. Tax deductions, environmental policy, and the “double dividend” hypothesis. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 39:67-96.
95. Parry, I.W.H. and W.E. Oates. 2000. Policy analysis in the presence of distorting taxes. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 19:603-613.
96. Peterson, G.L. and A. Randall (eds.). 1984. Valuation of Wildland Resource Benefits. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado. 275 p.
97. Pezzey, J.C.V. and A. Park. 1998. Reflections of the double dividend debate: The importance of interest groups and information costs. Environmental and Resource Economics 11:539-555.
98. Poffenberger, M. 1997. Rethinking Indonesian forest policy: Beyond the timber barons. Asian Survey 37:453-469.
99. Poore, E. 1993. The Sustainable Management of Tropical Forests: The Issues. In The Earthscan Reader in Tropical Forestry, E. Rietbergen (ed.) London: Earthscan Publications Ltd.
100. Price, C. 1997. Twenty-five years of forestry cost-benefit analysis in Britain. Forestry 70:171-189.
101. Racheter, D.P. and R.E. Wagner (eds.). 1999. Limiting Leviathan. Elgar Publishers, Cheltenam, U. K. and Northampton, MA, USA. 268 p.
102. Richardson, S.D. 1992. Sticks and carrots in forest concession management. Commonwealth Forestry Review 71:167-169.
103. Repetto, R. and M. Gillis, eds. 1988. Public Policies and the Misuse of Forest Resources. World Resources Institute Book. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 432 p.
104. Rucker, R.R. and K.B. Leffler. 1988. To harvest or not to harvest? An analysis of cutting behavior on federal timber sales contracts. The Review of Economics and Statistics 70:207-213.
105. Rusco, F.W. and W.D. Walls. 1999. Competition in a repeated spatial auction market with application to timber sales. Journal of Regional Science 39:449-465.
106. Schob, R. 1996. Evaluating tax reforms in the presence of externalities. Oxford Economic Papers 48:537-555.
107. Scholz, I. 2001. Overexploitation or Sustainable Management: Action Patterns of the Tropical Timber Industry: The Case of Pará, Brazil, 1960-1997. Frank Cass Publishers, London, England. 452 p.
108. Schuster, E.G. and K.M. Gerbert. 2001. Property tax equivalency on federal resource management lands. Journal of Forestry, May:30-35.
109. Schwartz, J. and R. Repetto. 2000. Nonseparable utility and the double dividend debate: Reconsidering the tax-interaction effect. Environmental and Resource Economics 15:149-157.
110. Smith, W. 2002. The global problem of illegal logging. Tropical Forest Update. 12(1): 3-5.
111. Sobral, L., A. Veríssimo, E. Lima, T. Assevedo, and R. Smeraldi. 2002. Acertando o Alvo 2: Consumo de Madeira Amazonica e Certificado no Estado de Sao Paulo. Imazon, Belém, Brazil. 72 p.
112. Sterner, T. 2002. Policy Instruments for Environmental and Natural Resource Management. Resources for the Future Press. Washington, DC, 503 p.
113. Stone, S.W. 1998. Using GIS for Applied Economic Policy Modeling: A Case Study in the Brazilian Amazon. Ecological Economics 27:43-61.
114. Toman, M.A. 1994. Economics and “sustainability”: Balancing trade-offs and imperatives. Land Economics 70:399-413.
115. Van der Hout, P. 1999. Reduced impact logging in the tropical rainforest of Guyana: Ecological, economic and silvicultural consequences. Tropenbos-Guyana Series 6. Tropenbos, Georgetown, Guyana. 335 p.
116. Verissimo, A. and P. Barreto. 1999a. Presos da Madeira em Pé em Pólos Madereiros Próximos de cinco Florestas Nacionais da Amazonia. Ministério do Meio Ambiente, Brasilia. Projeto UTF/BRA/047. 23 p.
117. Verissimo, A. and P. Barreto. 1999b. Informales e SugestSes para a Cria§ao e Gestao de Florestas Públicas na Amazonia. Ministério do Meio Ambiente, Brasilia. Projeto UTF/BRA/047. 18 p.
118. Verissimo, A., C. Souza, and P.H. Amaral. 2000. Identificado de Áreas com Potencial para a Cria§ao de Florestas Nacionais na Amazonia Legal. Ministério do Meio Ambiente, Brasilia, Brazil. 52 p.
119. Verissimo, A., M.A. Cochrane, and C. Souza Jr. 2002. National Forests in the Amazon. Science 297:1478.
120. Verissimo, A., M.A. Cochrane, C. Souza Jr., and R. Salmao. 2002. Priority areas for establishing national forests in the Brazilian Amazon. Conservation Ecology 6:1-14.
121. Vincent, J.R. 1990. Rent capture and the feasibility of tropical forest management. Land Economics 66:212-223.
122. Vincent, J.R. 1992. The tropical timber trade and sustainable development. Science 256:1651-1655.
123. Wagner, J.E., C.J. Davis, D.E. Roczen, and L.P. Herrington. 2002. Combining zoning regulations and property tax relief to retain forest land and promote forest management. Northern Journal of Applied Forestry 19:59-67.
124. Walker, R. and T.E. Smith. 1993. Tropical deforestation and forest management under the system of concession logging: A decision-theoretic analysis. Journal of Regional Science 33:387-419.