Chief Economist, Sustainable Development Department, Institute for Socio-Economic Research, Catholic University of Bolivia, La Paz. Chancellor's Associate Chair in Economics, University of California, San Diego. Winner of The Nobel Prize for Economics 2003. Director of Macroeconomic Studies, Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA), Rio de Janeiro. Reader in Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science. Centre for Development Research, Copenhagen.

• Preface; Part I. Overview of Issues: 1. The Brazilian Amazon; 2. Extent of deforestation; 3. Review of sources on deforestation; Part II. Econometric Analysis of the Causes of Deforestation: 4. The DESMAT data set; 5. An econometric model of deforestation; 6. Further analysis - cattle ranching; 7. Urban infrastructure; 8. Carbon emissions from Amazon deforestation; Part III. Economics of Deforestation: 9. Economic analysis of deforestation; Part IV. Alternatives to Deforestation: Extractivism - an Economically Viable Alternative to Deforestation?: 10. Plant extractivism in Brazil; 11. Plant extraction in the Amazon - a spatial analysis; Part V. Policy Implications, Discussion and Conclusion: 12. Policy implications and recommendations; 13. Conclusion; Appendix. Econometric methods.

A book on the Brazilian Amazon, the world's largest tropical forest, always demands one's attention and this volume is an especially worthy addition to the literature. The authors have drawn on all available data sources to assess the benefits and costs of land-use change in the region. Moreover, key findings are presented without resort to technical jargon, which guarantees that the book's impacts will be far-reaching.' Douglas Southgate, Ohio State University