This report summarizes preliminary findings of the Mexican National Database and Community Survey Project which examines linkages between institutional characteristics in Mexico’s common property forestry sector and economic and environmental outcomes. Framing the Mexican agrarian...

In the absence of a global climate agreement, countries employ local policies to curb pollution and introduce clean energy. These policies limit domestic consumption of a traded energy source but increase exports thus improving a country’s energy balance and its balance of trade. While...

We propose a detailed analysis of heterogeneity in households’ responses to water conservation programs (price increase, voluntary and mandatory conservation) during periods of water shortage. Using a unique dataset covering water consumption of all residential users in Los Angeles...

We introduce a version of the DICE-2007 model designed for uncertaintyanalysis. DICE is a wide-spread deterministic integrated assessment model of climatechange. Climate change, long-term economic development, and their interactionsare highly uncertain. The quantitative analysis of optimal...

A great deal of research on farm and food policy and consumer choice focuses on the link between food consumption and nutrition. This paper presents and applies a new method to analyze the demand for food and nutrients, and consumer welfare. The foundation for this method is the recent extension...

The paper incorporates qualitative differences of probabilistic beliefs into a rational (or normatively motivated) decision framework. Probabilistic beliefs can range from objective probabilities to pure guesstimates. The decision maker in the present model takes into account his confidence in...

Empirical evidence has shown that off-farm non-agricultural (OFNA) employment offers a major pathway from poverty for rural populations. However, the pattern of participation in these activities is heterogeneous across categories of individuals and poorly understood. We explore the role of...

We model adjustment costs in a general equilibrium setting using a “transport sectorâ€. This sector provides services needed to re-allocate a factor of production across wo other sectors. A market imperfection in the transport sector causes adjustment to occur too slowly in the absence...

In 1881, Newcomb conjectured that the first significant digits (FSDs) of numbers in statistical tables would follow a logarithmic distribution with the digit “1†occurring most often. However, because Newcomb’s proposal was not presented with a theoretical basis, it was not...

This paper examines the consequences of data error in data series used to construct aggregate indicators. Using the most popular indicator of country level economic development, the Human Development Index (HDI), we identify three separate sources of data error. We propose a simple statistical...