Resumen

FLORES-XOLOCOTZI, Ramiro. Economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation in 20 Latin American countries. Rev. econ. [online]. 2026, vol.43, n.106, pp.114-145.  Epub 12-Mar-2026. ISSN 2395-8715.  https://doi.org/10.33937/reveco.2026.529.

The relationship between per capita carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and economic growth (GDP per capita) was studied in 20 Latin American countries from 2001 to 2020 using quartic, cubic, and quadratic polynomials. Techniques such as fixed effects with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors, fixed effects with instrumental variables to address endogeneity, and quantile regressions to account for conditional heterogeneity among countries according to their emission levels were employed. The control variables were trade openness, annual rate of change in forest cover (RCC), civil liberties index, and population. A W-shaped relationship was observed, where the second turning point shows that with greater economic growth, emissions increase again. It was also found that trade openness has a positive effect on emissions, supporting a pollution haven hypothesis due to trade. Likewise, it was determined that emissions rise with the loss of civil liberties and population growth. Furthermore, it was confirmed that increases in RCC mitigate emissions. The fixed-effects instrumental variable regressions and the quantile regressions corroborated the findings. However, the results are not conclusive and require further validation using additional panel econometric methods and country-specific time-series techniques, which would help strengthen national policies that promote forest carbon sequestration rather than its release through deforestation.

Palabras llave : Free trade; climate change; environmental Kuznets curve; forestry; pollution haven.

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