Ross, MartinDepro, BrooksPattanayak, Subhrendu K.2014-04-172014-04-172007-09https://hdl.handle.net/10986/17895Costa Rica's Program of Payments for Environmental Services (Pago de Servicios Ambientales, PSA) provides a unique opportunity to evaluate direct payments as a conservation policy tool. This paper reports evidence on how much more forest has been conserved in Costa Rica as a result of PSA contracts with landowners. Such evidence requires estimating a counterfactual outcome: how much forest would have been preserved if there had been no payments. By applying rigorous program evaluation methods that have been recommended for identifying the causal effects of conservation policies, we find that the PSA program does result in a small but statistically significant increase in the area of forest conserved.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOAGRICULTURAL COMMODITIESAGRICULTURAL LANDAGRICULTURAL LANDSAGRICULTURAL OUTPUTAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONAGRICULTURAL SECTORAGRICULTURAL USESAGRICULTUREAGROFORESTRYAREA OF FORESTBIODIVERSITYBIODIVERSITY CONSERVATIONBUDGET CONSTRAINTSCAPITAL FORMATIONCARBONCHANGES IN PRICESCLIMATECLIMATE CHANGECLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATIONCONSERVATION POLICIESCONSUMERSCONSUMPTION PATTERNSDAMAGE FUNCTIONDEBTDEFORESTATIONDEMAND ANALYSISDEVELOPMENT POLICYDYNAMIC ANALYSISDYNAMIC MODELECONOMIC ACTIVITYECONOMIC BEHAVIORSECONOMIC DATAECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC IMPACTSECONOMIC MODELSECONOMIC OUTCOMESECONOMIC POLICIESECONOMIC RESEARCHECONOMIC SECTORSECONOMIC THEORYECONOMICSECONOMISTSELASTICITIESELASTICITYELECTRICITY GENERATIONEMISSIONSENVIRONMENTALENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITSENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTSENVIRONMENTAL POLICIESENVIRONMENTAL QUALITYEQUILIBRIUMEQUIVALENT VARIATIONEXPENDITURESEXPORT DEMANDSEXPORTSEXTERNALITIESFACTOR DEMANDFISHFISHINGFORESTFOREST CONSERVATIONFOREST CONVERSIONFOREST COVERFOREST ENGINEERINGFOREST LANDFOREST LANDSFOREST MANAGEMENTFOREST POLICIESFOREST PROTECTIONFOREST SECTORFOREST STRATEGYFORESTRYFORESTSFOSSIL FUELSFREE TRADEFUTURE RESEARCHGDPGENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSISGENERAL EQUILIBRIUM MODELGOVERNMENT PURCHASESGOVERNMENT SUBSIDIESGREENHOUSE GASESGROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCTHETEROGENEITYHOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTIONIMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGEIMPORTSINCOMEINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME HOUSEHOLDSINTERMEDIATE INPUTSINTERNATIONAL PAYMENTSLABOR FORCELABOR MARKETSLAND DEGRADATIONLAND ECONOMICSLAND FOR AGRICULTURELAND OWNERSLAND OWNERSHIPLAND PRODUCTIVITYLAND RENTALLAND USELAND-USELAND-USE CHANGELOGGINGMACROECONOMIC ADJUSTMENTMACROECONOMIC CONDITIONSMACROECONOMIC POLICYNATIONAL ECONOMYNATURAL RESOURCENATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENTNATURAL RESOURCESOPEN ACCESSOPEN ECONOMYOUTPUT DECLINESPARTIAL EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSISPASTUREPASTURESPOLICY ANALYSISPOLICY MAKERSPOLICY RELEVANCEPOLICY SCENARIOSPOLLUTIONPOLLUTION ABATEMENTPOPULATION GROWTHPOSITIVE EFFECTSPRICE CHANGESPRICE LEVELSPRODUCTION COSTSPRODUCTION FUNCTIONSPROFIT MAXIMIZATIONPROPERTY RIGHTPROPERTY RIGHTSPUBLIC ECONOMICSPUBLIC GOODSQUANTITATIVE ANALYSISRAIN FOREST CONSERVATIONREFORESTATIONRELATIVE PRICESRESOURCE ECONOMICSRESOURCE MANAGEMENTREVENUE LOSSSENSITIVITY ANALYSESSILVICULTURESIMULATION TECHNIQUESSPILLOVER EFFECTSSTATE FORESTRYSTRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENTSUBSTITUTIONSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTTANGIBLE GOODSTAXATIONTIMBERTIMBER INDUSTRIESTIMBER PRICESTOTAL OUTPUTTRADE LIBERALIZATIONTRADE POLICYTRANSACTION COSTSUNINTENDED CONSEQUENCESUTILITY FUNCTIONSVALUE ADDEDVALUE OF OUTPUTWAGE RATESWAGESWATERSHEDWELFARE ANALYSISWOODWOOD PROCESSING10.1596/17895