Abstract Artisanal-and-small-scale gold mining supports millions of livelihoods in the Global South but is the largest anthropogenic source of mercury emissions. Many initiatives promote mercury-free technologies that small miners could employ. Few document mercury impacts. We study an alternative: instead of processing themselves, small miners sell their ore to plants employing larger-scale, mercury-free technologies that also raise gold yields. Some ore-selling occurs without policy intervention, yet impacts on incomes and mercury use remain unclear. We assess ore-selling preferences of female waste-rock collectors ( jancheras ) in Ecuador, using a discrete-choice experiment. Results demonstrate that jancheras generally are open to ore-selling, yet often reject options similar to a recent pilot intervention. Offers that address formalization hurdles (invoicing), inabilities to meet quantity minima (given limits upon association, storage, and credit), and constraints on trust (including in plants’ ore testing) could increase adoption by tailoring related interventions to the preferences of and challenges for defined populations.

Abstract The economic valuation of recreational ecosystem services is challenging due to difficulties in obtaining geo-tagged information of users. The objective of this study is to validate crowdsourced and user-generated content in order to predict visitation patterns to 16 national parks in Spain. The results may serve to encourage its utilization in the study of recreational demand in other countries, particularly developing countries, where on-site visitor information may be limited or expensive to gather. The present article employs a negative binomial regression model to evaluate the validity of two sources of data: Flickr and mobile phones. The accuracy of predictions exhibited variation across the 16 parks, indicating that site-specific characteristics, such as the seasonality of visitation patterns, may be of significance. The utilization of mobile phone data for modelling visitors yielded enhanced predictive capacity, as shown by the goodness of fit of the estimated models.

Abstract This study addresses the urgent need for low-carbon energy transition (LCET) in the Global South, where vulnerability to climate change is high and most countries have ratified the Paris Agreement and Nationally Determined Contributions. It emphasizes the importance of research in supporting this transition, particularly through the lens of digital technologies. Despite its relevance, existing studies on the topic remain limited and fragmented. This study reviews the literature on digital infrastructure in LCET, identifies key gaps and ambiguities and offers insights to inform future research and policymaking in the Global South.

Abstract In many tourism-dependent islands, an acute imbalance between increasing demand for wastewater management and the capacity of existing sewage infrastructure represents an increased risk for ecosystems and population health. Given that locals may be opposed to increasing tourism taxes to fund investments in sewerage, promoting charitable giving among tourists may be an alternative to improve wastewater management in tourist destinations. Using a contingent valuation survey, this study assesses whether tourists are willing to donate to improve wastewater management in San Andres Island, Colombia. Split-sample treatments were implemented to examine the response of tourists' giving preferences to priming communications regarding the effects of poor wastewater management. Results indicate that tourists are willing to donate to improve local wastewater management. Our findings also provide useful insights about tourists' giving preferences to design effective charitable giving campaigns to improve wastewater management.

Abstract Using novel nighttime lights and high-resolution atmospheric reanalysis, this paper exploits exogenous fluctuations in temperature and precipitation to identify the causal effects of weather disturbances on local economic growth in the Philippines – the world’s most disaster-prone country. Our findings reveal that heightened temperature variability significantly dampens growth, but only in poor municipalities. This effect persists for at least 2 years after the initial shock. Furthermore, the relationship between weather shocks and growth is nonlinear. We also demonstrate that adverse weather events impede growth by disrupting agricultural productivity and essential service sectors, including wholesale and retail trade, health and education. Overall, our results highlight the importance of understanding the distributional impact of climate change within countries, its underlying mechanisms, and how economic development policies can help shield poor municipalities from the vagaries of the weather.

Abstract It has long been challenging to assess local residents’ quality of life, which is affected by numerous natural and man-made amenities. We develop a novel compensating differential model of quality-of-life rankings applicable to developing countries by introducing farm income into the household budget alongside housing and labour market differentials. We apply this model to Indonesia using detailed household data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey for two different time periods and combining estimates of agricultural, off-farm labour and housing market differentials. We find heterogeneous amenity impacts across the agricultural and off-farm labour sectors. We use our model to show how significant changes in rankings across time are consistent with contemporaneous internal migration patterns in Indonesia. These rankings yield important information for policymakers on expected changes in migration and can be used to help inform public investment.

Abstract It is widely recognized that local management of common pool resources can be more efficient and more effective than private markets or top-down government management, especially in remote rural communities in which the institutions may be weak or prone to elite capture. In this paper, we explore the propensity for cooperation in the management of local common resources by introducing a variant of a public goods game among remote rural communities in the state of Odisha, in eastern India. We explore various patterns of cooperation, including free riding behaviour, unconditional cooperation and conditional cooperation, in which individuals’ propensity toward cooperation is tied to their beliefs about the level of cooperation among their peers. We find that a significant portion of our sample fall into this latter category, but also that their expectations about the level of contributions among their peers are somewhat malleable.

Abstract Public authorities often enforce pollution abatement through monitoring and penalties. However, monitoring is costly and only a small percentage of firms are monitored. Inspectors may be corrupt and permit evasion for a bribe. For firms in developing countries, it is expensive to enter formally and install costly abatement technologies, which are accessible only to formal firms. This paper studies a framework where firms, depending on abatement cost, the probability of inspection, the likelihood of a corrupt inspector and the bribe, choose whether to organize formally or informally and whether to abate before inspection. Firms that do not abate beforehand are liable to either pay a penalty and abate or close down post-inspection. Greater monitoring and lower abatement costs encourage firms to move towards formal organization, while excessively high penalties may discourage entry.

Abstract This study tests the null hypothesis that no significant differences exist in the relationship between economic growth and deforestation, based on the levels of growth and agricultural productivity in the municipalities of the Brazilian Legal Amazon. Grounded in the environmental Kuznets curve theory, this study employs a non-linear methodological approach to estimate the relationship between economic growth and deforestation. The results reject the null hypothesis, indicating that the relationship between growth and deforestation varies with the municipalities’ productive performance. Furthermore, the findings conclude that a negative monotonic relationship exists between economic growth and deforestation in the Brazilian Legal Amazon, suggesting that reductions in deforestation are achievable even during periods of economic expansion.

Abstract While a growing body of literature studies the effects of weather shocks on economic activity in low-income countries, relatively little is known about their impact on cross-border capital flows. This study investigates whether weather shocks, specifically deviations in precipitation and temperature from their long-term averages, trigger capital flight from Africa. Exploiting the variation in within-country exposure to weather shocks, we find that temperature shocks lead to increased capital outflows and trade misinvoicing. The long-run relationship between temperature and capital flight is conditional upon country-specific factors, such as reliance on oil exports, institutional frameworks and financial infrastructures. Our findings reveal a moderate role of state capacity in the relationship between weather shocks and capital flight, highlighting the need for further investigation into other potential mechanisms.