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The Diffusion of Cattle Ranching and Deforestation: Prospects for a Hollow Frontier in Mexico’s Yucatán

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Listed author(s):
  • Christopher B. Busch
  • Colin Vance
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    Abstract

    his article investigates the behavioral drivers of pasture creation and associated implications for deforestation in a 22,000 km2 agricultural frontier spanning the base of Mexico’s southern Yucatán. After developing a theoretical model that highlights the role of social networks and information spillovers with respect to the decision to begin cattle ranching, we use household data to estimate an econometric duration model of the determinants of pasture creation. Although pasture fits well with the typical household’s resource constraints, its continued expansion contributes to a hollow frontier dynamic in which the spread of low-value cattle ranching coincides with decreasing population.

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    File URL: http://le.uwpress.org/cgi/reprint/87/4/682
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    Article provided by University of Wisconsin Press in its journal Land Economics.

    Volume (Year): 87 (2011)
    Issue (Month): 4 ()
    Pages: 682-698

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    Handle: RePEc:uwp:landec:v:87:y:2011:iv:1:p:682-698
    Contact details of provider: Web page: http://le.uwpress.org/

    Keywords:

    Find related papers by JEL classification:

    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
    • R22 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Other Demand

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    1. Timothy G. Conley & Christopher R. Udry, 2010. "Learning about a New Technology: Pineapple in Ghana," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 35-69, March.
    2. Charles F. Manski, 1993. "Identification of Endogenous Social Effects: The Reflection Problem," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 60(3), pages 531-542.
    3. Vance, Colin & Geoghegan, Jacqueline, 2002. "Temporal and spatial modelling of tropical deforestation: a survival analysis linking satellite and household survey data," Agricultural Economics of Agricultural Economists, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 27(3), November.
    4. Hecht, Susanna B., 1985. "Environment, development and politics: Capital accumulation and the livestock sector in Eastern Amazonia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 663-684, June.
    5. Robalino, Juan A. & Pfaff, Alexander, 2012. "Contagious development: Neighbor interactions in deforestation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 427-436.
    6. Robert Walker & Stephen Perz & Marcellus Caldas & Luiz Guilherme Teixeira Silva, 2002. "Land Use and Land Cover Change in Forest Frontiers: The Role of Household Life Cycles," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 25(2), pages 169-199, April.
    7. Foster, Andrew D & Rosenzweig, Mark R, 1995. "Learning by Doing and Learning from Others: Human Capital and Technical Change in Agriculture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(6), pages 1176-1209, December.
    8. Bardhan, Pranab & Udry, Christopher, 1999. "Development Microeconomics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198773719.
    9. Feder, Gershon & Just, Richard E & Zilberman, David, 1985. "Adoption of Agricultural Innovations in Developing Countries: A Survey," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(2), pages 255-298, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Yankuic Galvan-Miyoshi & Robert Walker & Barney Warf, 2015. "Land Change Regimes and the Evolution of the Maize-Cattle Complex in Neoliberal Mexico," Land, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 4(3), pages 1-24, August.
    2. Walsh, Patrick J. & Bird, Stephen & Heintzelman, Martin D., 2015. "Understanding Local Regulation of Fracking: A Spatial Econometric Approach," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 44(2), August.
    3. Elisabeth Hettig & Jann Lay & Kacana Sipangule, 2016. "Drivers of Households’ Land-Use Decisions: A Critical Review of Micro-Level Studies in Tropical Regions," Land, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 5(4), pages 1-32, October.

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