International Institute of Tropical Forestry

Title: Land degradation and property regimes

Author: Beaumont, Paul M. ; Walker, Robert T.

Date: 1996

Source: Ecological Economics 18 :55-66

Description: This paper addresses the relationship between property regimes and land degradation outcomes, in the context of peasant agriculture. We consider explicitly whether private property provides for superior soil resource conservation, as compared to common property and open access. To assess this we implement optimization algorithms on a supercomputer to address resource decision-making of individual households. We find that conditions exist under which private property does not lead to the best environmental outcome. Access to farming technology and off-farm employment opportunities are key factors in this result.

Keywords: Land degradation; Property regimes ; Peasant agriculture; Sustainability; Household production model; Optimal control; Genetic algorithms

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Citation

Beaumont, Paul M. ; Walker, Robert T.  1996.  Land degradation and property regimes.   Ecological Economics 18 :55-66.