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Is There a Nexus between Poverty and Environment in Rural India?

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  • Bhattacharya, Haimanti
  • Innes, Robert

Abstract

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the relationship between rural poverty and environmental change using district-level data from South, Central and West India. Unlike prior works, this study puts the hypothesis of bi-directional link between poverty and environment to econometric test. Environmental change is measured using a satellite-based vegetation index. Consonant with the dominant view in the literature, the evidence suggests that rural poverty spur vegetation degradation. The results also indicate that the vegetation degradation spurs rural poverty but the magnitude of the effect varies across sub regions classified on the basis of geographic and climatic factors. Thus these results provide evidence in support of existence of a poverty-environment nexus in rural India.

Suggested Citation

  • Bhattacharya, Haimanti & Innes, Robert, 2006. "Is There a Nexus between Poverty and Environment in Rural India?," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21201, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea06:21201
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.21201
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    2. Klemens,Ben & Coppola,Andrea & Shron,Max, 2015. "Estimating local poverty measures using satellite images : a pilot application to Central America," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7329, The World Bank.
    3. Chakravarty, Shourish & Mullally, Conner C., 2018. "Impact of NREGS on Forest Cover," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274250, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. Shibalal Meher, 2023. "Does poverty cause forest degradation? Evidence from a poor state in India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 1684-1699, February.
    7. Nattapong Puttanapong & Amornrat Luenam & Pit Jongwattanakul, 2022. "Spatial Analysis of Inequality in Thailand: Applications of Satellite Data and Spatial Statistics/Econometrics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-25, March.
    8. Mukherjee, Sacchidananda & Chakraborty, Debashis, 2009. "Is there any relationship between Environmental Quality Index, Human Development Index and Economic Growth? Evidences from Indian States," MPRA Paper 17207, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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