IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wop/iasawp/ir00038.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Population, Natural Resources and Food Security Lessons from Comparing Full and Reduced Form Models

Author

Listed:
  • W. Lutz
  • S. Scherbov
  • A. Fuernkranz-Prskawetz
  • M. Dworak
  • G. Feichtinger

Abstract

This paper discusses one of the most difficult issues in modeling complex population-environment interactions: The advantages and disadvantages of highly disaggregated empirical models versus highly reduced theoretical models. The analysis is carried out on the basis of the PEDA model, recently developed to capture interactions between population change, education, agricultural production, food security and natural resource degradation in Africa. An important feature of the approach is a non-linear food distribution function. Ranging in its use from direct science-policy communication with a number of African governments, to highly advanced dynamic mathematical analysis, PEDA turns out to be appropriate for the kind of sensitivity analysis and comparison of different levels of complexity attempted in this paper. In short, the results show that highly reduced models can never replace full empirical models, but that they show important additional features that complement the full models. For the researcher, the best understanding will be gained if one does not limit ones analysis to one level of complexity, but compares results from different levels.

Suggested Citation

  • W. Lutz & S. Scherbov & A. Fuernkranz-Prskawetz & M. Dworak & G. Feichtinger, 2000. "Population, Natural Resources and Food Security Lessons from Comparing Full and Reduced Form Models," Working Papers ir00038, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
  • Handle: RePEc:wop:iasawp:ir00038
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Publications/Documents/IR-00-038.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Publications/Documents/IR-00-038.ps
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lam, David, 1988. "Lorenz curves, inequality, and social welfare under changing population composition," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 141-162, April.
    2. Marc Nerlove, 1991. "Population and the Environment: A Parable of Firewood and Other Tales," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 73(5), pages 1334-1347.
    3. Atkinson, Anthony B., 1970. "On the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 244-263, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Tukufu Zuberi & Kevin J.A. Thomas, "undated". "Demographic Projections, the Environment and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa," UNDP Africa Policy Notes 2012-001, United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa.
    2. Maria Winkler-Dworak, 2004. "Food Security, Fertility Differentials and Land Degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Dynamic Framework," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 2(1), pages 227-252.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Prskawetz, Alexia & Winkler-Dworak, Maria & Feichtinger, Gustav, 2003. "Production, distribution and insecurity of food: a dynamic framework," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 317-337, September.
    2. Maria Winkler-Dworak, 2003. "Food Security, Fertility Differentials and Land Degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Dynamic Framework," VID Working Papers 0301, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
    3. Maria Winkler-Dworak, 2004. "Food Security, Fertility Differentials and Land Degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Dynamic Framework," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 2(1), pages 227-252.
    4. Ashantha Ranasinghe & Xuejuan Su, 2023. "When social assistance meets market power: A mixed duopoly view of health insurance in the United States," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(4), pages 851-869, October.
    5. Gajdos, Thibault & Maurin, Eric, 2004. "Unequal uncertainties and uncertain inequalities: an axiomatic approach," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 93-118, May.
    6. Eckstein, Zvi & Zilcha, Itzhak, 1994. "The effects of compulsory schooling on growth, income distribution and welfare," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 339-359, July.
    7. Alain Chateauneuf & Patrick Moyes, 2005. "Lorenz non-consistent welfare and inequality measurement," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 2(2), pages 61-87, January.
    8. Roobavannan, M. & Kandasamy, J. & Pande, S. & Vigneswaran, S. & Sivapalan, M., 2020. "Sustainability of agricultural basin development under uncertain future climate and economic conditions: A socio-hydrological analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    9. Oscar Volij, 2018. "Segregation: theoretical approaches," Chapters, in: Conchita D’Ambrosio (ed.), Handbook of Research on Economic and Social Well-Being, chapter 21, pages 480-503, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Alessandro Spiganti, 2022. "Wealth Inequality and the Exploration of Novel Alternatives," Working Papers 2022:02, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    11. Günther Rehme, 2007. "Education, Economic Growth and Measured Income Inequality," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(295), pages 493-514, August.
    12. Junyi Zhu, 2014. "Bracket Creep Revisited - with and without r > g: Evidence from Germany," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 23(3), pages 106-158, November.
    13. Juan Antonio Duro & Jordi Teixidó-Figueras & Emilio Padilla, 2017. "The Causal Factors of International Inequality in $$\hbox {CO}_{2}$$ CO 2 Emissions Per Capita: A Regression-Based Inequality Decomposition Analysis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 67(4), pages 683-700, August.
    14. Jeni Klugman & Francisco Rodríguez & Hyung-Jin Choi, 2011. "The HDI 2010: new controversies, old critiques," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 9(2), pages 249-288, June.
    15. Zheng, Liang & Xue, Xinfeng & Xu, Chengcheng & Ran, Bin, 2019. "A stochastic simulation-based optimization method for equitable and efficient network-wide signal timing under uncertainties," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 287-308.
    16. Vani K. Borooah, 2013. "A general measure of the ‘effective’ number of parties in a political system," Chapters, in: Francisco Cabrillo & Miguel A. Puchades-Navarro (ed.), Constitutional Economics and Public Institutions, chapter 8, pages 146-159, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Francesco Andreoli & Eugenio Peluso, 2016. "So close yet so unequal: Reconsidering spatial inequality in U.S. cities," Working Papers 21/2016, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    18. Cowell, Frank & Flachaire, Emmanuel & Bandyopadhyay, Sanghamitra, 2009. "Goodness-of-fit: an economic approach," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 25433, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Michael P. Keane & Eswar S. Prasad, 2002. "Inequality, Transfers, And Growth: New Evidence From The Economic Transition In Poland," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(2), pages 324-341, May.
    20. Andonie, Costel & Kuzmics, Christoph & Rogers, Brian W., 2019. "Efficiency-based measures of inequality," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 60-69.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:wop:iasawp:ir00038. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Thomas Krichel (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iiasaat.html .

    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.