Epidemics and Rapacity of Multinational Companies

Do multinationals engage in rent-seeking behaviour in developing countries during crises? With a difference in discontinuity approach, we use the Ebola epidemic in Liberia as a natural experiment on the sharp increase in deforestation, which produced a dramatic growth in newly planted palm oil trees and a 1428% increase in palm oil exports. We show that the probability of forest fire – the fastest way to clear forests and start new production – increased by 125% in the same period. Both effects are amplified in areas populated by ethnic minorities.