Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-s22k5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-05T02:17:02.376Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Economic analysis of deforestation in Mexico*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2017

Edward B. Barbier  and
Joanne C. Burgess
Edward B. Barbier
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Economics and Environmental Management, University of York, Heslington, York YO1 5DD, UK
Joanne C. Burgess
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Economics and Environmental Management, University of York, Heslington, York YO1 5DD, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper uses panel analyses to estimate relationships for agricultural planted area and beef cattle numbers at the state level in Mexico during the period 1970–85, in order to determine the main factors affecting forest land conversion. Of the key policy variables, maize and fertilizer prices appear to be the main influences on the expansion of planted area, whereas beef prices and credit disbursement influence cattle numbers. Population growth also affects both livestock and agricultural activities, and income per capita is positively correlated with cattle expansion. These estimated relationships are used to examine the effects both of agricultural and livestock sectoral policy changes and of trade liberalization in Mexico resulting from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). To avoid any unintended impacts of NAFTA on deforestation, it may be necessary for Mexico to make complementary investments in land improvements, especially for existing cultivation on rainfed land.

Type
Policy Opinions
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , May 1996 , pp. 203 - 239
Copyright
Copyright © 1996, Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amelung, T. and Diehl, M. (1992), Deforestation of Tropical Rain Forests: Economic Causes and Impact on Development, Kiel: Institute of World Economics.Google Scholar
Baltagi, B. (1995), Econometric Analysis of Panel Data, Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Barbier, E.B. and Burgess, J.C. (1992), ‘Agricultural pricing and environmental degradation’, Policy Research Working Paper WPS 960, The World Bank, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Barbier, E.B., Burgess, J.C., Collins, M. and Clancy, C. (1993), ‘Mexico—forestry and conservation sector review sub-study of economic issues for implementation of the new forestry policy’, Report prepared for the Latin American and the Caribbean Country Department, The World Bank, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Barbier, E.B., Burgess, J.C., Bishop, J.T. and Aylward, B.A. (1995a), The Economics of the Tropical Timber Trade, London: Earthscan Publications.Google Scholar
Barbier, E.B., Bockstael, N., Burgess, J.C. and Strand, I. (1995b), ‘The linkages between the timber trade and tropical deforestation’, The World Economy 18(3): 411–442.Google Scholar
Boyd, R. (1994), ‘NAFTA deforestation: a general equilibrium perspective’, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, Dublin, 22–24 June.Google Scholar
Brown, K. and Pearce, D.W., eds. (1994), The Causes of Tropical Deforestation, University College London Press.Google Scholar
Burgess, J.C. (1993), ‘Timber production, timber trade and tropical deforestation’, AMBIO 22: 136–143.Google Scholar
Burgess, J.C. (1995), ‘Biodiversity loss through tropical deforestation: the role of timber production and trade,’ in Perrings, C.A., Mäler, K.-G., Folke, C., Moiling, C.S. and Jansson, B.-O., eds., Biodiversity Conservation, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.Google Scholar
Capistrano, A.D. (1994), ‘Tropical forest depletion and the changing macro-economy,’ in Brown, and Pearce, , eds., The Causes of Tropical Deforestation.Google Scholar
Greene, W.H. (1993), Econometric Analysis, 2nd edn, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Hinojosa-Ojeda, R. and Robinson, S. (1991), ‘Alternative scenarios of U.S.–Mexico integration: a computable general equilibrium approach’, Working Paper No. 609, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Hsiao, C. (1986), Analysis of Panel Data, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
INEGI (1992), Estados unidos mexicanos resulta dos prelimin areas, Mexico City: VII Censo Agropecuario, 1991.Google Scholar
INEGI/SPP (nd), Sistema de cuentas nacionales de Mexico, Mexico City: Estructura Economica Regional Produsto Interno Bruto por Entidad Federative.Google Scholar
Levy, S. and van Wijnbergen, S. (1992a), ‘Maize and the free trade agreement between Mexico and the United States’, The World Bank Economic Review 6(3): 481–502.Google Scholar
Levy, S. and van Wijnbergen, S. (1992b), ‘Transition problems in economic reform: agriculture in the Mexico–US free trade agreement’, Policy Research Working Paper No. 967, The World Bank, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Maddison, A. et al. (1992), The Political Economy of Poverty, Equity and Growth: Brazil and Mexico, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mahar, D. and Schneider, R. (1994), ‘Incentives for tropical deforestation: some examples from Latin America’, in Brown, and Pearce, , eds., The Causes of Tropical Deforestation.Google Scholar
Masera, O., Ordóñez, M. and Dirzo, R. (1992), Carbon Emissions and Sequestration in the Forests: Case Studies from Seven Developing Countries: Volume 4 Mexico, Washington, DC: Environmental Protection Agency.Google Scholar
Muñoz, , Piña, C. (1992), ‘Forest or no forest: a logit model of land use in Mexico’, MSc dissertation, University College London.Google Scholar
Palo, M., Mery, G., and Salmi, J. (1987), ‘Deforestation in the tropics: pilot scenarios based on quantitative analysis’, in Palo, M. and Salmi, J., eds., Deforestation or Development in the Third World, Helsinki: Division of Social Economics of Forestry, Finnish Forestry Research.Google Scholar
Panayotou, T. and Sungsuwan, S. (1994), ‘An econometric analysis of the causes of tropical deforestation: the case of Northeast Thailand’, in Brown, and Pearce, , eds., The Causes of Tropical Deforestation.Google Scholar
Phantumvanit, D. and Panayotou, T. (1990), ‘Natural resources for a sustainable future: spreading the benefits’, prepared for the 1990 TDRI End-Year Conference on Industrializing Thailand and its Impact on the Environment, Chon Buri, Thailand, 8–9 December.Google Scholar
Reis, E.J. and Guzmán, R. (1994), ‘An econometric model of Amazon deforestation’, in Brown, and Pearce, , eds., The Causes of Tropical Deforestation.Google Scholar
Reis, E.J. and Margulis, S. (1993), ‘Options for slowing Amazon jungle clearing’, in Dornbusch, R. and Poterba, J.M., eds., Global Warming: Economic Policy Responses, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Repetto, R. (1988), The Forests for the Trees? Government Policies and the Misuse of Forest Resources, Washington DC: World Resources Institute.Google Scholar
Robles, R. (1992), ‘La decada perdida de la agriculture Mexican’, El Cotidiano 50: 169–185.Google Scholar
SARH (1988), Estadisticas basics 1960–1986 para la ptaneqcion del desarollo rural integral, tomo 1, Mexico City: Sector Agropeuario Forestal.Google Scholar
Southgate, D. (1991), ‘Tropical deforestation and agricultural development in Latin America’, LEEC Discussion Paper 91–01, London Environmental Economics Centre.Google Scholar
Southgate, D., Sierra, R., and Brown, L. (1989), ‘The causes of tropical deforestation in Ecuador: a statistical analysis’, World Development 19(9): 1145–1151.Google Scholar
World Bank (1989), Mexico–Agricultural Sector Report, Washington DC: The World Bank.Google Scholar