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Institutional Constraints and the Forest Transition in Tropical Developing Countries

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  • Edward B. Barbier

    (Colorado State University)

Abstract

The forest transition describes a reversal or turnaround in long-run land-use trends for a country or region from a period of net forest area loss to net gain. Following North, this paper constructs a model to show that effective institutions may impose additional costs on a representative economic agent converting forests to agriculture in a tropical developing country. The main outcome to emerge from the model is that an improvement in institutions accelerates the onset of a forest transition. This hypothesis is tested by examining the probability of a forest transition occurring for 101 tropical developing countries over 1990 to 2015. The empirical results suggest that the hypothesis cannot be fully rejected. However, not all the institutional indicators analyzed affect the likelihood of the forest transition, and one economy-wide indicator appears to delay the transition. Nevertheless, the results illustrate the importance of understanding how institutional indicators affect the decisions of economic agents concerning land clearing as well as forest management practices and policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Edward B. Barbier, 2019. "Institutional Constraints and the Forest Transition in Tropical Developing Countries," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 25(1), pages 1-18, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:iaecre:v:25:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s11294-019-09725-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s11294-019-09725-8
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    Cited by:

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    2. Pierre Desrochers & Vincent Geloso & Joanna Szurmak, 2021. "Care to Wager Again? An Appraisal of Paul Ehrlich's Counterbet Offer to Julian Simon, Part 2: Critical Analysis," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(2), pages 808-829, March.
    3. Vincent Geloso, 2022. "Statogenic climate change? Julian Simon and Institutions," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 343-358, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Developing countries; Forest policy; Forest transition; Tropical deforestation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q23 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Forestry
    • Q24 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Land
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products

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