This paper examines investment and livelihood decisions among forest peasant households in the Amazonian floodplain. A dynamic household model of multiple asset accumulation and activity choice under risk and credit constraints is developed by incorporating natural resource use and human capital...

Researchers and practitioners often use rapid rural appraisal (RRA) methods to secure a representative, accurate, and cost-effective portrayal of wealth rankings among rural populations. This paper proposes an asset possession-based approach to developing RRA wealth rankings and portrayals of...

This article examines the substitutability, efficiency, and evolution of an important nonmarket institution in agrarian societies ? labor sharing. From analyses of field-level data on forest clearing through time among shifting cultivators in the Peruvian Amazon, we find: (1) no productivity...