In many areas of developing countries, economic and institutional factors often combine to give farmers incentives to clear forests and repeatedly plant food crops without sufficiently replenishing the soils. These activities lead to large-scale land degradation and contribute to global warming...

Second Annual Conference on Agricultural Policy and the Environment; Proceedings of a Conference Sponsored by University of Minnesota, Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy; Agricultural Development Regional Agency (ESAV); University of Padova; Lake Itasca, Minnesota, September...

The objectives of this lecture are to discuss the concepts of "quality of life" and "environmental quality," to briefly review several schools of thought on pollution and environmental quality, and to review in broad terms some of the economic implications of these schools of thought..."

This paper is a brief review of current problems in which trade and environmental issues intersect. After a statement of these problems, it focuses on some recent empirical research and future research needs of special relevance to agricultural economists.