53. The Simple Economics of Saving the Amazon Rainforest

People I (Mostly) Admire

Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Society & Culture

4.6 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2021

⏱️ 33 minutes

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Summary

Everyone agrees that massive deforestation is an environmental disaster. But most of the standard solutions — scolding the Brazilians, invoking universal morality — ignore the one solution that might actually work. Originally released on Freakonomics Radio, Steve gives an update on what’s happened in the two years since this episode first ran.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today, we dip into the Freakonomics Radio Vault to revisit a topic very close to my heart.
0:12.8	Welcome to People I Mostly Admire with Steve Levitt.
0:22.2	Two years ago, before people I mostly admire even existed, I became obsessed with the Amazon
0:27.6	Rainforest.
0:28.6	And what you're about to hear is the outcome of my investigation into the surprising economics
0:34.7	of the Amazon.
0:42.2	Fires are raging across Brazil's Amazon Rainforest.
0:45.4	World's largest rainforest is being destroyed at an alarming rate.
0:49.1	Much of the blame is being heaped on Brazil's far right president, Jair Bolsonaro.
0:54.6	I'd never give much thought to the Amazon Rainforest.
0:57.2	While the media coverage, though, of the wildfires got me wondering, is it really true that
1:01.3	the Amazon Rainforest is being destroyed?
1:03.6	Should I be upset about that happening?
1:05.6	Or is it no big deal?
1:06.6	If it is a big deal, there's some way we could save it.
1:10.4	Ecologists, environmentalists, and politicians have strong opinions about the answers to those
1:15.2	questions.
1:16.2	The economics of the Amazon, however, are barely discussed in the public debate.
1:19.9	As I soon came to realize, that's a huge mistake.
1:23.3	On today's episode, we will explore the simple economics fueling one of the world's most dangerous,
1:28.4	ecological disasters.
1:30.5	It is a great example of a market failure.
	...

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