There is a great amount of asymmetry in the distribution of deforestation in the Brazilian Legal Amazon, particularly in the states of Mato Grosso, Pará and Rondônia, what it would be, in principle, associate with certain common characteristics of their productive activities such as cattle, timber cutting and, more recently, the expansion in the production of grains. However, it can be inquired if municipalities with similar economic characteristics can be grouped as clubs with respect to deforestation. The goal of this article was to test the club convergence hypothesis of deforested areas in the cities of the Legal Amazon in the period of 2000 to 2004. In order to reach the objectives considered, a threshold model based in Hansen (2000) was used. The empirical results corroborate the hypothesis, with respect to formation of four clubs of convergence.
Amazonia; Deforestment; Convergence
