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Stochastic food prices and slash-and-burn agriculture

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  • BARRETT, CHRISTOPHER B.

Abstract

This paper explores the interrelationship between poverty, risk, and deforestation by small farmers in the low-income tropics. A nonseparable household model reveals how exogenous shocks to the mean or variance of a food price distribution might affect peasants' incentives to clear forest. The resulting links between food price policy, farmer behavior, and deforestation offer an innovative explanation of the vicious cycle of peasant immiserization and tropical deforestation. An intriguing, testable hypothesis also emerges: that market-oriented reforms that increase the mean and variance of food prices may inadvertently stimulate deforestation in economies in which a sizable proportion of farmers are net buyers.

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  • Barrett, Christopher B., 1999. "Stochastic food prices and slash-and-burn agriculture," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(2), pages 161-176, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:endeec:v:4:y:1999:i:02:p:161-176_00
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    2. Andersson, Camilla & Mekonnen, Alemu & Stage, Jesper, 2011. "Impacts of the Productive Safety Net Program in Ethiopia on livestock and tree holdings of rural households," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 119-126, January.
    3. Yuki Yamamoto & Kenji Takeuchi & Gunnar Kohlin, 2013. "What Factors Promote Peatland Fire Prevention? Evidence from Central Kalimantan, Indonesia," Discussion Papers 1312, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University.
    4. Yoshito Takasaki, 2011. "Economic models of shifting cultivation: a review," Tsukuba Economics Working Papers 2011-006, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba.
    5. Coxhead, Ian & Shively, Gerald & Shuai, Xiaobing, 2002. "Development policies, resource constraints, and agricultural expansion on the Philippine land frontier," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 341-363, May.
    6. Takasaki, Yoshito, 2000. "Deforestation And Asset Accumulation Among Small Scale Farmers," 2000 Annual meeting, July 30-August 2, Tampa, FL 21786, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    7. Pascual, Unai & Barbier, Edward B., 2003. "Modelling Land Degradation In Low-Input Agriculture: The 'Population Pressure Hypothesis' Revised," 2003 Annual Meeting, August 16-22, 2003, Durban, South Africa 25827, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Takasaki, Yoshito & Barham, Bradford L. & Coomes, Oliver T., 2000. "Wealth Accumulation and Activity Choice Evolution Among Amazonian Forest Peasant Households," Staff Paper Series 434, University of Wisconsin, Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    9. Schuck, Eric C. & Nganje, William & Yantio, Debazou, 2002. "The role of land tenure and extension education in the adoption of slash and burn agriculture," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 61-70, November.
    10. Barrett, Christopher B., 1998. "Markets, Social Norms, And Governments In The Service Of Environmentally Sustainable Economic Development," Economics Research Institute, ERI Study Papers 28352, Utah State University, Economics Department.
    11. Bowman, Maria S. & Amacher, Gregory S. & Merry, Frank D., 2008. "Fire use and prevention by traditional households in the Brazilian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 117-130, August.
    12. Yoshito Takasaki & Oliver T. Coomes & Christian Abizaid & Stéphanie Brisson, 2014. "An Efficient Nonmarket Institution under Imperfect Markets: Labor Sharing for Tropical Forest Clearing," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 96(3), pages 711-732.
    13. Fisher, Monica G. & Shively, Gerald E. & Buccola, Steven T., 2002. "An Empirical Investigation Of Activity Choice, Labor Allocation, And Forest Use In Southern Malawi," Staff Papers 28616, Purdue University, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    14. Christopher B. Barrett & Stein T. Holden & Daniel C. Clay, 2002. "Can Food-for-Work Programmes Reduce Vulnerability?," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2002-24, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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