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Summary This article tests the role of social learning in the modernization of a rural nonfarm industry, using data from a paper-manufacturing village that was transformed from a traditional handicraft industry into a modern industrial cluster. Knowledge diffusion through kinship networks is shown to have played a significant role in the dissemination of mechanized production by helping the followers to overcome subjective risk during the initial investment stage. The financial support through kinship networks also had a demonstrably positive impact on the diffusion of the technology, which removed financial constraints on the initial fixed investments.

Summary This study examines the recent dynamics in the rapidly growing handmade paper industry in Nepal. The paper argues that the industry is sustainable from social responsibility as well as natural resources and economic perspectives. Five principle sources of socially responsible practices are identified: (1) traditional commitment to community development, (2) fair trade codes of conduct, (3) corporate social responsibility, (4) the industry’s business service organization (Nepal Handmade Paper Association), and (5) the general policy and legal framework. The paper concludes with a discussion of this industry as a case study of “positive deviance” and with lessons for contemporary innovation systems theory and for development policy and practice.

This comment provides a critical analysis of Van Beukering and Bouman’s [World Development 29 (2001) 1717] article on global paper recycling and trade. We first question their notion that developin ...

Over the last three decades, drawn by international influence and local discontent, mineral-dependent Peru has progressed in the acquisition of environmental protection regulations and policies for its mining industry. However, for regulations and policy announcements to matter, in face of power asymmetries and economic dependence, there must be bureaucratic autonomy. The cases of Hualgayoc and Pasco, scenarios of long and distinct processes of environmental damage and contention regarding mining in the Peruvian Andes, show fairly limited progress in environmental protection. This study on institutional change begins at the 1990s domestic-neoliberalism-meets-global-environmentalism juncture. The triumphant policy ideology of liberal boosting of the economy structured newborn environmental functions of the state for its mining industry. We show that pressures from above —the greened international political economy— and below —grassroots activism and protest— are contextual conditions enabling formal institutional change: they compel a resource-dependent developing country to carry out institutional reform to protect the environment from extractive industries. However, accretion of formal rules does not bring on their own bureaucratic autonomy for environmental protection.

Increased attention to the development potential of international migration has led to calls for greater global cooperation and for industrial countries to consider temporary worker programs and other options for increasing the number of immigrants admitted. But less attention has been devoted to policies that migrant-sending countries pursue that impact on the ability of people to emigrate under the existing system. This paper documents the existence and impact of two such policies: passport costs and legal restrictions on emigration. New data collected on passport costs in 127 countries reveals enormous variation in the cost of a passport from one country to the next. One in every 10 countries in the sample is found to have passport costs exceeding 10 percent of annual per capita income. High passport costs are found to be associated with poor governance, especially in terms of the quality of the bureaucracy, and with lower levels of migration. Countries that place legal restrictions on the rights of women to emigrate are also found to have lower migration rates than countries with similar income and population levels. These findings suggest there is scope for some developing countries to receive greater benefits from migration by tearing down the paper walls they place around their own citizens.

Firstofall,weapplaudtheeffortbyBerg-lundandS€ooderholm(hereafterB/S)toverifyand criticize our research. In the economicsciencethearduouslaborofverificationandfalsification of earlier research is not verypopular.Thatisapity,sinceforrealscientificprogressthiskindofactivityisvital.Thatdoesnotmean,however,thatwefullyagreewiththeircritique.Ofcourse,weareen-couragedwiththeremarksinnote14,whereB/Sreportthatusingourapproachwiththeirdataset,ourempiricalresultsareconfirmed.ButinafewotherinstanceswefindithardertoconcurfullywithB/S.Forexample,intheintroductionB/Swritethatourpapermakestheclaimthat‘‘thedif-ferentpatternsofwastepapertradeprovidethemainexplanationforwhyrecoveryandutili-zation rates of waste paper differ betweencountries.’’Inourview,however,theambitionsofourpaperwerefarmoremodest.Insteadoflookingforthereasonwhyrecoveryandutilityratesdifferglobally,wesimplysetouttode-monstratethatwastepapertradeisdrivenbytheordinaryRicardianforcesofcomparativeadvantage.Inotherwords,wesimplyintendedtoshowthatthedifferenceinutilizationpat-ternsleadstotrade.ThatisexactlyoppositetohowB/Sunderstoodit.Wethinkthatexplain-ingtradebylookingatrecoveryandutilizationrate is more intuitively appealing than ex-plainingtheseratesbyanalyzingthetradepat-terns.India,e.g., isanet-importer of wastepaperbecausethecountryistalentedinutiliz-ingwastepaper,andnottheotherwayaround.LikewiseweareabitpuzzledbytheassertionofB/Sthatweerredinourchoiceforthepriceseriesforwastepaper.Insteadofusingaverageprice,B/Swrite,andessentiallyassumingtheglobalwastepapermarketisfullyintegrated,weshouldhaveuseddifferentpriceseriesforeachcountry.Wecouldnotagreemore.Thatiswhywedidusecountryspecificpriceseriesforourresearch!ThecrucialequationofB/Sisequation(7)whichlinkschangesintheutilityrate(UR)tochangesintheratiobetweenconsumptionandproduction of paper and board (PWP). B/Sreasonthatthelatterratioisagoodproxyforthe relative availability of waste paper andthereforeitsprice.Intheirnotation:PWP¼ PB

Summary Qualitative and quantitative methods are applied to assess the impact of CIFOR’s political economy research on the Indonesian pulp and paper sector. Key-informant interviews triangulated by trend-series tests suggest important influence through advocacy intermediaries and counterfactuals of slower adoption of improvements. Effects on conservation set-asides, overcapacity, and plantation establishment are estimated to avert loss of 76,000–212,000 hectares of natural forest (135,000 under main assumptions). Application of an economic-surplus framework for environmental benefits of forest conservation and avoided implicit wood subsidies finds benefits of US$19 to US$583 million (US$133 million main estimate), compared with US$500,000 of direct research costs.

In this paper, we analyze the diffusion and adoption of paper making machinery in the indonesian pulp and paper industry, from 1923 till 2000. We develop a machine level index of technological sophistication (mach), which measures the technological distance of each paper machine to the world technological frontier. The data reveal a pattern of rapid technological catch up. But catch up was not an industrywide phenomenon. Some modern firms installed state-of-the-art machinery, while others installed older vintages. The paper argues that industrial policy has played an important role in the speed and nature of diffusion of paper making machinery.

Poverty reduction strategy papers represent both a primary policy device of international development institutions, and an instance of a wider international convergence of public policy around global integration and social inclusion. Charting the emergence of these approaches, this paper argues that this convergence has a number of structural predilections which favor the technical and juridical over the political economic, and a disciplinary framework over a practical contest. Drawing extensively on decentralized governance and poverty reduction programs in Uganda, this paper shows how these predilections obscure power relations and restrict practical and political options, while exacting heavy establishment and compliance costs.

A successful handmade paper project, part of Nepal's Small Farmer Development Programme, is described. Project “success” is analyzed in both economic and sociological terms. While the economics are important (with a guaranteed market and virtually no credit default), success is better measured in terms of contextual (sociological) variables,such as villager satisfaction and enthusiasm. Findings suggest that rural development success is enhanced by the sensitivity shown to local custom and tradition, and by an innovative pragmatic style of leadership that enables poor farmers to respond creatively and effectively to improve their quality of life.

Summary Lack of combined forest productivity and income studies means there is scant evidence for the sustainability of rural household-level forest incomes in developing countries. This study examines levels and patterns of forest increment, wood product extraction, and household-level incomes in three community managed forests in Nepal, using data from 240 permanent sample plots and a structured household survey conducted in 2006 and 2009 ( n = 507 and 558, respectively). We find that analyses of sustainability need to recognize the complexity of forest stand utilization, and that there is considerable scope, by altering how existing local forest management rules are implemented, for increasing rural household forest incomes while keeping harvesting levels sustainable.

Uncontrollable forest fires in Indonesia have caused much environmental damage in Southeast Asia with immediate countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and even Southern Thailand bearing most of it. The intentional burning of forests has engendered a transboundary haze pollution problem with severe economic ramifications in both victim and perpetrator countries. This paper reviews the related issues and suggested policy responses from the different interdisciplinary perspectives. Identification and analysis by way of a “stakeholders approach” to the possible sharing of costs in certain programs to combat the fires and haze is suggested. The paper also discusses the role of economic incentives in managing forest fires.

Summary Poverty reduction strategies show promise for more transparent and rational delivery of public services to meet the needs of Africa’s rural poor. An analysis was conducted to determine how closely Kenya’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) matches with the problems and priorities articulated by residents of 80 rural communities in 10 districts of Western Kenya. The results suggest that there was a good match between national PRSP priorities and priorities generated from the 80 rural communities, but poor matches between district level PRSP priorities and community priorities, and between national PRSP priorities and the national PRSP implementation plan. The results imply the need for a stronger multiscale approach to poverty reduction, with special emphasis on the mesoscales of locations and districts.

This paper provides a household-level framework to understand the occurrence of secondary forests. We focus on the role of household life cycles as determinants of secondary vegetation on small farms in tropical Latin America. Following a review of socioeconomic research on secondary growth and a theoretical discussion of life cycle dynamics and land use, we pursue an empirical analysis of the determinants of fallows and abandoned plots among farm lots in Uruara, a colony in the Brazilian Amazon. The findings indicate strong effects of life cycle factors, and bear implications for policies aiming to foster agricultural production alongside forest conservation.

Summary Using a recursive optimization model, we analyze how the incorporation of charcoal production by pioneer farmers in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest would affect household net returns and the rate of deforestation at the early stage of forest colonization. Because charcoal production diverts scarce dry-season labor from land clearing for agriculture, deforestation by pioneer farmers may be slower. The model predicts that after 10 years, a representative pioneer farmer who produces charcoal would earn 17% higher net income and clear 17% less forested area. A sensitivity analysis predicts that any additional labor would be chiefly devoted to charcoal production, reinforcing the conservation effect.