Discussing structural breaks in the Portuguese regulation on forest fires: an economic approach

Abstract

Governments and national parliaments regulate the fight against forest fires by responding to public protests, not only for moral and ethical reasons but also for economic reasons. In this paper, we investigate whether Portuguese legislation focused on forest fires follows a reactive profile (meaning that the regulations follow forest fire disasters) or has a preventive aim (meaning that the regulations are created to prevent forest fires). Using a time series analysis (based on structural breaks and VAR), we found that between 1980 and 2013, Portuguese legislation exhibited a reactive profile.