The loss of native grassland habitat in the Northern Plains of the United States is prompting concern about the effect of farm programs on rangeland-to-cropland conversion. In theory, a mixed logit model can capture any pattern of response to economic or policy change. In reality, mixed logit...

This paper studies the causal mechanisms behind persistent poverty. Using original data on Boran pastoralists of southern Ethiopia, we find that heterogeneous and nonlinear wealth dynamics arise purely in adverse states of nature. In favorable states, expected herd grow is quasi-linear and...

We study risk preferences and their determinants for commercial cattle farmers in Namibia who are subject to high precipitation risk that is heterogeneous across farms. We use data on risk preferences from questionnaire and field experiments, simulated data for on-farm precipitation risk and...

Climatic variability exerts tremendous influence on the livelihoods and well-being of pastoralists in the Horn of Africa. Recent advances in climate forecasting technologies have raised the intriguing prospect of reasonably accurate forecasts of coming seasons’ rainfall patterns. We explore...

This study investigates development priorities of individuals living in 11 communities in the arid and semi-arid rangelands of northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. We first asked individuals to describe development efforts that have been implemented in their community. People were then asked to...

Across western North America, invasive plant species and elevated levels of nitrogen are threatening the productivity of rangelands. A bioeconomic model of stocking cattle on these rangelands is used to show that optimal stocking depends on the competition between native grasses and the...