The Effect of Labor Market Performance on Deforestation in Developing Countries under Open Access: An Example from Rural Nepal

This research examines the deforestation behavior of smallholder agriculturalists as off-farm labor market conditions change. A model of a representative village is proposed, which incorporates dependence on open access forests for fuelwood and animal raising. Dynamic simulations are then presented,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of environmental economics and management Vol. 29; no. 1; pp. 42 - 63
Main Author Bluffstone, Randall A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Elsevier Inc 01.07.1995
Elsevier
Academic Press
Elsevier Science Publishing Company, Inc
SeriesJournal of Environmental Economics and Management
Subjects
Agriculture
Animal husbandry
Deforestation
Developing countries
Environmental economics
Farmers
Farmworkers
Forestry economics
Forests
Labor force
Labor market
Labour market
LDCs
Nepal
Open access
Rural areas
Studies
Nepal
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Summary:This research examines the deforestation behavior of smallholder agriculturalists as off-farm labor market conditions change. A model of a representative village is proposed, which incorporates dependence on open access forests for fuelwood and animal raising. Dynamic simulations are then presented, which compare time paths of forest stocks, deforestation levels, and household labor supply under a variety of conditions. Despite the open access regime assumed in the model, with a perfect, albeit low-wage, off-farm labor market, the agro-forestry system in Nepal is basically stable. An alternative model where there is no off-farm labor market eliminates the important features of adjustment to deforestation which generate forest stability, suggesting that the availability of off-farm opportunities is an important determinant of deforesting behavior and equilibrium forest stock levels.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:0095-0696
1096-0449
DOI:10.1006/jeem.1995.1030