Research 

Overview

I work on environmental issues in both developing and developed countries, which include identifying and quantifying the impact of conservation programs and evaluating the value of ecosystem goods and services.  

Working Papers

Cheng, Yu Shing. Does establishing commercial logging concessions protect forests in Liberia? (Job Market Paper)

Abstract:

Home of almost half of Upper Guinea forests, Liberia has a forest-dependent economy, and its forests have high conservation value. Establishing commercial logging concessions is often believed to protect working forests as it aims to create incentives for the long-term use of forests. However, the evidence of their impact on protecting working forests in Liberia and elsewhere is still limited. Using a spatially explicit panel dataset and heterogeneity-robust difference-in-difference estimators, I examine the impact of granting commercial logging rights (Forest Management Contracts (FMC)) on Liberian forests between 2000 and 2017. I find that FMCs can effectively protect forests, although significant heterogeneity in their impact exists, rendering the estimates insignificant. One possible channel for FMCs to be effective in Liberia is reducing population pressure. These results indicate that for the sustainable development of the country, future conservation and development policy needs to take the impact of local livelihood into account and ensure property rights are properly defined.

Cheng, Yu Shing, and D.A. Miteva. Broken Forests: Deforestation and Forest Fragmentation Increase Malaria Incidence among Young Children in Rural Liberia.

Cheng, Yu Shing, D.A. Miteva, and D.N. Pennington. Changing Landscapes: How farm-level water quality certification impacts cover crop coverage in Minnesota.

Miteva, D.A, Y.S. Cheng, A. Miller, and S. Gopalakrishnan. The value of forests in reducing malaria mortality in India. (In Review)

Miteva, D.A., S. Gopalakrishnan, Y.S. Cheng, A. Miller, and K. Zhu. The marginal value of forests in rural India.

Working In Progress

Meta-Analysis on the impact of establishing commercial forest management units and FSC certification on forest cover loss with Anand Roopsind, Erin O Sills, Subhrendu K Pattanayak, Bronson Griscom, Peter Umunay, Peter Ellis, Pushpendra Rana, Alex Pfaff, Jimena Rico Straffon, Lea Fortmann, Corinne Bocci, Brent Sohngen, Allen Blackman, Bingcai Liu, Merlin M. Hanauer, Ethan Belair, Laura Villalobos, Zhenhua Wang, and Colas Chervier. 

Impacted Evaluation of Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program using survey data with Derric Pennington, Daniela A. Miteva, and Amit Pradhananga.

Assessing the relationship between forest cover loss and incidence of diarrheal disease in India with Daniela A Miteva. (Led by Yu Shing Cheng)

Assessing the relationship between forest cover loss and incidence of malaria in India with Daniela A Miteva.