Models Explaining the Levels of Forest Environmental Taxes and Other PES Schemes in Japan
Between 2003 and April 2016, 37 of 47 prefectures (i.e., sub-national local governmental units) introduced forest environmental taxes—local payment for environmental services (PES) schemes. These introductions are unique historical natural experiments, in which local governments made their own polit...
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doaj-7597a132c9cf4263950831a8870424612021-06-01T01:18:13ZengMDPI AGForests1999-49072021-05-011268568510.3390/f12060685Models Explaining the Levels of Forest Environmental Taxes and Other PES Schemes in JapanTakuya Takahashi0Katsuya Tanaka1School of Environmental Science, University of Shiga Prefecture, Shiga 522-8533, JapanFaculty of Economics and Research Center for Sustainability and Environment, Shiga University, Hikone, Shiga 522-8522, JapanBetween 2003 and April 2016, 37 of 47 prefectures (i.e., sub-national local governmental units) introduced forest environmental taxes—local payment for environmental services (PES) schemes. These introductions are unique historical natural experiments, in which local governments made their own political decisions considering multiple factors. This study empirically evaluates models that explain normalized expenditures from forest environmental taxes as well as other PES schemes (subsidies for enhancing forests’ and mountain villages’ multifunction, and green donation) and traditional forestry budgets for Japan’s 47 prefectures based on the median voter model. Results demonstrate that the median voter model can particularly explain forest environmental taxes and forestry budgets. Specifically, the past incidence of droughts and landslides is positively correlated with the levels of forest environmental taxes. The higher the number of municipalities in a prefecture, the lower the amount of forest environmental tax spent on forests. Moreover, the number of forest volunteering groups, possibly an indicator of social capital in the forest sectors, had strong positive correlations with the levels of forest environmental taxes and forestry budgets. Other PES schemes and forestry budgets had unique patterns of correlations with the examined factors.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/6/685PESpoliticslocal governmentspublic finance |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Takuya Takahashi Katsuya Tanaka |
spellingShingle |
Takuya Takahashi Katsuya Tanaka Models Explaining the Levels of Forest Environmental Taxes and Other PES Schemes in Japan Forests PES politics local governments public finance |
author_facet |
Takuya Takahashi Katsuya Tanaka |
author_sort |
Takuya Takahashi |
title |
Models Explaining the Levels of Forest Environmental Taxes and Other PES Schemes in Japan |
title_short |
Models Explaining the Levels of Forest Environmental Taxes and Other PES Schemes in Japan |
title_full |
Models Explaining the Levels of Forest Environmental Taxes and Other PES Schemes in Japan |
title_fullStr |
Models Explaining the Levels of Forest Environmental Taxes and Other PES Schemes in Japan |
title_full_unstemmed |
Models Explaining the Levels of Forest Environmental Taxes and Other PES Schemes in Japan |
title_sort |
models explaining the levels of forest environmental taxes and other pes schemes in japan |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Forests |
issn |
1999-4907 |
publishDate |
2021-05-01 |
description |
Between 2003 and April 2016, 37 of 47 prefectures (i.e., sub-national local governmental units) introduced forest environmental taxes—local payment for environmental services (PES) schemes. These introductions are unique historical natural experiments, in which local governments made their own political decisions considering multiple factors. This study empirically evaluates models that explain normalized expenditures from forest environmental taxes as well as other PES schemes (subsidies for enhancing forests’ and mountain villages’ multifunction, and green donation) and traditional forestry budgets for Japan’s 47 prefectures based on the median voter model. Results demonstrate that the median voter model can particularly explain forest environmental taxes and forestry budgets. Specifically, the past incidence of droughts and landslides is positively correlated with the levels of forest environmental taxes. The higher the number of municipalities in a prefecture, the lower the amount of forest environmental tax spent on forests. Moreover, the number of forest volunteering groups, possibly an indicator of social capital in the forest sectors, had strong positive correlations with the levels of forest environmental taxes and forestry budgets. Other PES schemes and forestry budgets had unique patterns of correlations with the examined factors. |
topic |
PES politics local governments public finance |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/6/685 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT takuyatakahashi modelsexplainingthelevelsofforestenvironmentaltaxesandotherpesschemesinjapan AT katsuyatanaka modelsexplainingthelevelsofforestenvironmentaltaxesandotherpesschemesinjapan |
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