This paper demonstrates how satellite images and other geographic data can be used to predict land use. A cross-section model of land use is estimated with data for a region in central Mexico. Parameters from the model are used to examine the effects of reduced human activity. If variables that...

This paper explores possible interdependence of biodiversity and several socioeconomic and political factors at the county level. It is aimed at the empirical identification of direct and indirect effects between biodiversity (loss) and their theoretical major impact factors. To date, research...

This paper explores possible interdependence of biodiversity and several socioeconomic and political factors at the county level. It is aimed at the empirical identification of direct and indirect effects between biodiversity (loss) and their theoretical major impact factors. To date, research...

This article estimates a worldwide aggregate supply response for key agricultural commodities — wheat, rice, corn, and soybeans — by employing a newly-developed multi-country, crop-calendar-specific, seasonally disaggregated model with price changes and price volatility applied accordingly....

Following North (1990), this paper hypothesizes that effective rural institutions may impose additional costs on tropical deforestation through agricultural conversion. This allows a formal agricultural household analysis of institutional constraints on deforestation, and therefore a method of...

In this paper we examine the significance of labour productivity and use of inputs in explaining technical efficiency of rice production in Bangladesh. We find that higher labour productivity can stimulate high efficiency gains, but increased use of inputs (except land) induces negative marginal...

We estimate an institutional production function to capture incentive induced growth in total factor productivity (TFP) of rice production in Bangladesh. The incentive component of TFP assists in explaining farmers’ response to incentives due to major policy reforms during 1980s and 1990s.

We use newly-available Indian panel data to estimate how the returns to planting-stage investments vary by rainfall realizations. We show that the forecasts significantly affect farmer investment decisions and that these responses account for a substantial fraction of the inter-annual...

This paper investigates the impacts of cotton marketing reforms on farm productivity, a key element for poverty alleviation, in rural Zambia. The reforms comprised the elimination of the Zambian cotton marketing board that was in place since 1977. Following liberalization, the sector adopted an...

Bioenergy is a major source of energy in developing countries. However, increasing demand for agricultural commodities can lead to a stronger competition for natural resources with the bioenergy production. The nexus among energy, food production and natural resource use may result in trade-offs...