Does Eco-Certification Have Environmental Benefits? Organic Coffee in Costa Rica

Allen Blackman and Maria A. Naranjo

RFF Working Paper Series from Resources for the Future

Abstract: Eco-certification of coffee, timber and other high-value agricultural commodities is increasingly widespread. In principle, it can improve commodity producers’ environmental performance, even in countries where state regulation is weak. However, evidence needed to evaluate this hypothesis is virtually nonexistent. To help fill this gap, we use detailed farm-level data to analyze the environmental impacts of organic coffee certification in central Costa Rica. We use propensity score matching to control for self-selection bias. We find that organic certification improves coffee growers’ environmental performance. It significantly reduces chemical input use and increases adoption of some environmentally friendly management practices.

Keywords: certification; coffee; Costa Rica; propensity score matching (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q13 Q20 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-11-22
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Does eco-certification have environmental benefits? Organic coffee in Costa Rica (2012)
Working Paper: Does Eco-Certification Have Environmental Benefits? Organic Coffee in Costa Rica (2010)
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