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The Effects of the Structural Adjustment Program on Deforestation in Ghana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

J.K.A. Benhin  and
E.B. Barbier
J.K.A. Benhin
Affiliation:
Environment Department, University of York
E.B. Barbier
Affiliation:
Natural Resource and Environmental Economics with the Department of Economics and Finance at the University of Wyoming
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Abstract

This paper is a theoretical and empirical investigation into the impact of the structural adjustment program (SAP) on forest loss in Ghana between the period 1965–95. An optimal control model is used to derive estimable reduced form equations for forest loss, cocoa land, maize land and timber production, which are in turn functions of mainly input and output prices. Piecewise linear and switching regression approaches are used to distinguish between the influence of the post from the pre-adjustment policy impacts on forest land use. The overall results show that cocoa land expansion and timber production, but not maize land expansion, are significant causes of forest loss in Ghana. However, the impact on forest loss in the post-adjustment period was reduced. Changes in the relative output and input prices due to the SAP may have played a significant role in the reduced impact of agricultural and timber related deforestation in the post-adjustment period.

Type
Articles
Information
Agricultural and Resource Economics Review , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , April 2001 , pp. 66 - 80
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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