PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Arriagada, Rodrigo A.
AU  - Ferraro, Paul J.
AU  - Sills, Erin O.
AU  - Pattanayak, Subhrendu K.
AU  - Cordero-Sancho, Silvia
TI  - Do Payments for Environmental Services Affect Forest Cover? A Farm-Level Evaluation from Costa Rica
AID  - 10.3368/le.88.2.382
DP  - 2012 May 01
TA  - Land Economics
PG  - 382--399
VI  - 88
IP  - 2
4099  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/88/2/382.short
4100  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/88/2/382.full
SO  - Land Econ2012 May 01; 88
AB  - Payments for environmental services (PES) are popular despite little empirical evidence of their effectiveness. We estimate the impact of PES on forest cover in a region known for exemplary implementation of one of the best-known and longest-lived PES programs. Our evaluation design combines sampling that incorporates prematching, data from remote sensing and household surveys, and empirical methods that include partial identification with weak assumptions, difference-in-differences matching estimators, and tests of sensitivity to unobservable heterogeneity. PES in our study site increased participating farm forest cover by about 11% to 17% of the mean area under PES contract over eight years. (JEL Q57, Q58)