Premium
Deforestation and Agricultural Productivity in the Côte d'Ivoire
Author(s) -
Ehui Simeon K.,
Hertel Thomas W.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.2307/1242026
Subject(s) - cote d ivoire , stock (firearms) , economics , agriculture , deforestation (computer science) , social discount rate , agricultural economics , yield (engineering) , natural resource economics , productivity , forestry , ecology , geography , macroeconomics , biology , philosophy , cost–benefit analysis , materials science , archaeology , humanities , computer science , metallurgy , programming language
An optimal control model is used to determine the optimal steady‐state forest stock in the Côte d'Ivoire. This stock is shown to increase with increases in the forestry returns relative to those in agriculture. Technological progress in agriculture and increases in the social discount rate serve to lower the optimal steady‐state forest stock. Based on an estimated aggregate yield function, the optimal forest stock is shown to be most sensitive to changes in the social rate of discount. Assuming current (1985) technology, deforestation appears socially optimal only for values of the discount rate greater than 8%.