Hey everyone, this is Steve Levitt.

Dubner has taken the week off and handed the microphone over to me.

And that gives me the chance to investigate something that's really been troubling me.

It seems like ages ago, with all that's happened since, but do you remember the headlines

back last summer?

Fires are raging across Brazil's Amazon rainforest.

What's largest rainforest is being destroyed at an alarming rate.

Much of the blame is being heaped on Brazil's far right president.

Diarbal scenario.

I'd never give much thought to the Amazon rainforest.

All the media coverage, though, of the wildfires got me wondering.

Is it really true that the Amazon rainforest is being destroyed?

Should I be upset about that happening?

Or is it no big deal?

If it is a big deal, there's some way we could save it.

Ecologists, environmentalists, and politicians have strong opinions about the answers to those

questions.

The economics of the Amazon, however, are barely discussed in the public debate.

As soon came to realize, that's a huge mistake.

On today's episode, we will explore the simple economics fueling one of the world's most dangerous,

ecological disasters.

It is a great example of a market failure.

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