The diffusion of cattle ranching and deforestation
Loading...
Date
2011-02-08
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This 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.
Description
Table of contents
Keywords
Duration analysis, Farm households, Information spillovers, Mexico, Pasture creation