This study was conducted with the central aim of ascertaining the socioeconomic impacts of kerosene (paraffin) pricing on alternative sources of energy in Ibadan, a city in South West Nigeria. Data were collected through a survey of residential properties in Ibadan metropolis. Both descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression model were used for the empirical analysis. The models ...

We study dynamics of interactions among environmental pollution, population and output growth showing that shocks are persistent in these systems and that they converge slowly to the steady state. It is demonstrated that the extent of persistence in economic growth is determined by the convergence speed of shocks in both environmental pollution and population. A modified Solow-Swan economy is s...

A rich literature seeks to explain the distinctive features of equilibrium institutions arising in risky environments which lack formal insurance and credit markets. I develop a theory of endogenous matching between heterogeneously risk-averse individuals who, once matched, choose both the riskiness of the income stream they face (ex ante risk management) as well as how to share that risk (ex p...

Whether China continues its business-as-usual investment-driven, environment-polluting growth pattern or adopts an investment and innovation-driven, environmentally sustainable development holds important implications for both national and global environmental governance. Building on a Ramsey-Cass-Koopmans growth model that features endogenous technological change induced by R&D and knowledge s...

We study the impact of natural resource abundance and resource inequality on capital accumulation in a simultaneous model of physical and human capital for a sample of 18 Latin American countries from 1970-2004. We find that physical and human capital are jointly determined, in that human capital has a positive and significant effect on physical capital and vice versa. We show that the long run...

To what extent do firms rely on rural output for demand and capital? We provide new evidence on this classic development question by examining the impact of agricultural output on local economic activity. Rainfall provides exogenous and significant variation in rural earnings. We find that such fluctuations have a lasting impact on urban firms, with effects concentrated in the manufacturing sec...

The investment decisions of small-scale farmers in developing countries are conditioned by their financial environment. Binding credit market constraints and incomplete insurance can limit investment in activities with high expected profits. We conducted several experiments in northern Ghana in which farmers were randomly assigned to receive cash grants, grants of or opportunities to purchase r...

Groundwater depletion is becoming a serious policy concern in many developing countries but little is known about the costs of groundwater depletion. I use annual deviations of depth to groundwater from 1999 to 2003 from the 1985-1995 decadal means for Indian districts, to investigate how production and sown area respond to groundwater fluctuations. I find that a 1 meter decline in groundwater ...

We survey those recent developments in environmental and resource economics that have been prompted by a puzzling cultural phenomenon, where one group (usually natural scientists) sees in humanity's current use of Nature's services symptoms of a deep malaise, even while another group (usually economists) documents the fact that people today are on average better off in many ways than they had e...

There has been a tendency throughout Latin America, in recent decades of the expansion of activities associated with reprimarization. The latter refers to all activities of extractivism, such as mining and petroleum, as well as agricultural activities, such as cattle and soy. These are linked to the strong growth of the commodities markets and the amazing growth of China. This paper examines th...