| The paper investigates the complex system of causes affecting tropical deforestation at a worldwide level. There is no generally accepted theory in the deforestation literature to indicate which variables should be included in a model of deforestation at an aggregate global level. The paper begins, therefore, by presenting an analytical structure based on formal farm household economic modelling literature. The empirical findings derived from a global regression model tend to confirm the profit maximising market approach to deforestation, i.e. policy and structural variables at the macro-level that stimulate agricultural production provide farmers with incentives to deforest and expand their arable land areas. However, subsequent statistical tests suggest... |
