The role of natural resources in fostering economic development is examined for key historical epochs, from the agricultural revolution in 8,000 BC to the present. Natural resource exploitation has been important to development for most of global history. Depending on which epoch is examined,...

This article provides a theoretical framework, based on optimal control theory, to analyze farm households' land-use intensification decisions in forest-based shifting cultivation (slash-and-burn) agroecosystems. The main results from the analysis generally coincide with the Population Pressure...

This paper introduces a theoretical model that allows the estimation of a household’s valuation of health risks from major storms. An endogenous risk framework is developed in which the household can employ ex-ante self-protection and ex-post mitigating activities and treatments strategies to...

This paper introduces a household model of private investment in storm protection under an endogenous risk framework to determine how ex-ante self-protection and ex-post self-insurance spending by coastal households to mitigate storm-inflicted damages are affected by the availability of public...

This paper introduces a theoretical model combining household production with an endogenous risk framework in order to understand how ex-ante private spending by coastal households would evolve against ex-post cyclone induced storm surge damage risk given the level of government protective...

Bilateral trade and capital flows have increased substantially between the United States and China yielding economic gains to both countries. However, these beneficial bilateral relations also bring about global environmental consequences including greenhouse gas emissions. The authors develop a...

Empirical evidence indicates that in Latin America and the Caribbean, households on less favored, or marginal, agricultural land form a “residual” pool of rural labor. Although the modern sector may be the source of dynamic growth through learning-by-doing and knowledge spillovers, patterns...