Abstract We examine the historical legacy of the Soviet Union on the current rate of human-induced soil erosion in its successor countries. We use a spatial regression discontinuity design and high-resolution soil erosion data. Our results suggest strong discontinuities in current soil erosion rates along the former border of the Soviet Union. We find that soil erosion in countries that were part of the former Soviet Union is 26% lower than in neighboring countries (0.77 tons per hectare and year). In contrast, we do not find such discontinuity in potential soil erosion under natural vegetation, underlining that this effect is man-made. We show that the main mechanism is a sharp discontinuity in forest dynamics, whereas general economic and demographic differences are less important.

中文翻译：

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量化苏联的土壤侵蚀遗产

摘要 我们研究了苏联在其后继国家目前人为引起的土壤侵蚀率方面的历史遗产。我们使用空间回归不连续性设计和高分辨率土壤侵蚀数据。我们的研究结果表明，沿前苏联边界的当前土壤侵蚀率存在严重的不连续性。我们发现前苏联国家的土壤侵蚀比邻国低 26%（每公顷每年 0.77 吨）。相比之下，我们没有发现自然植被下潜在土壤侵蚀的这种不连续性，强调这种影响是人为的。我们表明主要机制是森林动态的急剧不连续性，而一般经济和人口差异不那么重要。