DEFORESTATION AND THE RULE OF LAW IN A CROSS-SECTION OF COUNTRIES

Relationships between deforestation and population pressure, income gr owth, and insecure property rights are examined with data from 120 cou ntries. Insecure property rights are hypothesized to arise from two so urces: government instability or inability to enforce ownership and an absence of government accountability. The former source is captured b y measures of general lawlessness such as guerrilla warfare, revolutio n, and frequent constitutional change. The latter is proxied by variab les indicating the type of government executive, frequency of politica l purges, and the existence of an elected legislature. General support is indicated for the property rights hypothesis and for the effects o f population growth.