IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/endeec/v3y1998i04p443-469_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of environmental good scarcity on own-farm labor allocation: the case of agricultural households in rural Nepal

Author

Listed:
  • COOKE, PRISCILLA A.

Abstract

As environmental goods such as fuelwood and fodder become more scarce, rural households in developing countries spend more time in their collection. It has been suggested that as a result households may reallocate labor away from own-farm agricultural production. This paper examines whether this is the case for a sample of agricultural households from rural Nepal. Cross-sectional estimates of agricultural labor demand equations give some indication that reallocation away from farm work may occur as environmental products become more scarce. However, these results disappear in random-effects estimation suggesting that time is instead reallocated from other activities or leisure. What little evidence there is for a labor reallocation from agriculture suggests that policies to relieve environmental good collection labor burdens should focus on leaf fodder and grass used as livestock feed rather than on fuelwood.

Suggested Citation

  • Cooke, Priscilla A., 1998. "The effect of environmental good scarcity on own-farm labor allocation: the case of agricultural households in rural Nepal," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(4), pages 443-469, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:endeec:v:3:y:1998:i:04:p:443-469_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1355770X98000230/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. O’Brien, James & Do, Phoebe & Edelson, Micaela, 2021. "The effects of fuelwood on children’s schooling in rural Vietnam," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    2. McConnell, Kenneth E. & Bockstael, Nancy E., 2006. "Valuing the Environment as a Factor of Production," Handbook of Environmental Economics, in: K. G. Mäler & J. R. Vincent (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 14, pages 621-669, Elsevier.
    3. Gregory Amacher & William Hyde & Keshav Kanel, 1999. "Nepali fuelwood production and consumption: Regional and household distinctions, substitution and successful intervention," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 138-163.
    4. Bandyopadhyay, Sushenjit & Shyamsundar, Priya & Baccini, Alessandro, 2006. "Forests, biomass use, and poverty in Malawi," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4068, The World Bank.
    5. Jean-Marie Baland & Pranab Bardhan & Sanghamitra Das & Dilip Mookherjee & Rinki Sarkar, 2010. "The Environmental Impact of Poverty: Evidence from Firewood Collection in Rural Nepal," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(1), pages 23-61, October.
    6. Abebe Damte & Steven F. Koch & Alemu Mekonnen, 2011. "Coping with Fuel Wood Scarcity: Household Responses in Rural Ethiopia," Working Papers 201125, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    7. Gebreegziabher, Zenebe & Mekonnen, Alemu & Kassie, Menale & Köhlin, Gunnar, 2010. "Household Tree Planting in Tigrai, Northern Ethiopia: Tree Species, Purposes, and Determinants," RFF Working Paper Series dp-10-01-efd, Resources for the Future.
    8. Nankhuni, Flora J. & Findeis, Jill L., 2003. "The Effects Of Environmental Degradation On Women'S And Children'S Time Allocation Decisions In Malawi: Impact On Children'S Welfare," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 22117, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    9. Zhang, Huaquan & Yang, Fan & Chandio, Abbas Ali & Liu, Jing & Twumasi, Martinson Ankrah & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2023. "Assessing the effects of internet technology use on rural households' cooking energy consumption: Evidence from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    10. World Bank, 2007. "Nepal - Country Environmental Analysis : Strengthening Institutions and Management Systems for Enhanced Environmental Governance," World Bank Publications - Reports 7690, The World Bank Group.
    11. Jean-Marie Baland & Pranab Bardhan & Sangharmitra Das & Dilip Mookherjee, 2009. "Forest Degradation in the Himalayas: Determinants and Policy Options," Working Papers 1002, University of Namur, Department of Economics.
    12. Muuz Hadush, 2017. "Implication of Animal Feed and Water Scarcity on Labor Allocation, Food Production and Per Capita Food Consumption in Tigrai Region, Ethiopia," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 42(4), pages 59-93, December.
    13. World Bank, 2007. "Malawi - Poverty and Vulnerability Assessment : Investing in Our Future," World Bank Publications - Reports 7909, The World Bank Group.
    14. Bandyopadhyay, Sushenjit & Shyamsundar, Priya & Baccini, Alessandro, 2011. "Forests, biomass use and poverty in Malawi," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 2461-2471.
    15. Arnold, J.E. Michael & Kohlin, Gunnar & Persson, Reidar, 2006. "Woodfuels, livelihoods, and policy interventions: Changing Perspectives," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 596-611, March.
    16. Guta, Dawit Diriba, 2014. "Effect of fuelwood scarcity and socio-economic factors on household bio-based energy use and energy substitution in rural Ethiopia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 217-227.
    17. Monica Fisher & Gerald E. Shively & Steven Buccola, 2005. "Activity Choice, Labor Allocation, and Forest Use in Malawi," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 81(4).
    18. Naidu, Sirisha C., 2011. "Rural Livelihoods, Forest Access and Time Use: A Study of Forest Communities in Northwest India," MPRA Paper 31060, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Naidu, Sirisha C., 2013. "Legal exclusions, private wealth and livelihoods: An analysis of work time allocation in protected areas," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 82-91.
    20. Edward B. Barbier & Angela Cindy Emefa Mensah & Michelan Wilson, 2023. "Valuing the Environment as Input, Ecosystem Services and Developing Countries," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 84(3), pages 677-694, March.
    21. Gebreegziabher, Zenebe & Mekonnen, Alemu & Kassie, Menale & Köhlin, Gunnar, 2020. "Household Tree Planting in Tigrai, Northern Ethiopia: Tree Species, Purposes, and Tenure Security," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    22. Kohlin, Gunnar & Sills, Erin O. & Pattanayak, Subhrendu K. & Wilfong, Christopher, 2011. "Energy, gender and development: what are the linkages ? where is the evidence ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5800, The World Bank.
    23. Nankhuni, Flora J. & Findeis, Jill L., 2004. "Natural resource-collection work and children's schooling in Malawi," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 31(2-3), pages 123-134, December.
    24. Barbier,Edward B., 2007. "Natural Resources and Economic Development," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521706513.
    25. Muuz Hadush, 2018. "Welfare and food security response of animal feed and water resource scarcity in Northern Ethiopia," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-24, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:endeec:v:3:y:1998:i:04:p:443-469_00. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/ede .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.