Title: Globalisation and rural poverty in Latin America: modelling the links to soil degradation

Authors: Claudia Binder, Ramon Lopez

Addresses: Department of Resource and Waste Management, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, EAWAG, CH-8600 Dubendorf, Switzerland. Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to present a framework to evaluate the impact of globalisation on poor farmers. We present a dynamic ecological-economic model that can be used to quantify the impact of globalisation on farmers| income and the quality of their natural resource base. The model combines material flux analysis with economic behavioural relationships. It allows for: (i) measuring the ||direct|| or short-term effects of globalisation on poor farmers| income (given the level of environmental factors of production, and differentiating between male and female labour allocation); (ii) quantifying the environmental impacts induced by globalisation (including changes in the environmental factors of production); and (iii) measuring the effects of changes in environmental factors on poor farmers| income, i.e. the ||indirect|| or long-term effects.

Keywords: economic models; globalisation; material balance models; rural poverty; soil degradation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSD.2000.001530

International Journal of Sustainable Development, 2000 Vol.3 No.2, pp.159-169

Published online: 04 Jul 2003 *

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