The evolution and impact of timber markets in China's southern collective forest region

Lanying Li, Gang Lu and Yueqin Shen

Forest Policy and Economics, 2021, vol. 123, issue C

Abstract: Previous studies have paid limited attention to the evolution of timber markets and the levies of taxes and fees on timber sales. The purpose of our work is to fill this knowledge gap using qualitative and quantitative methods coupled with longitudinal data collected from three counties in the Chinese provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Fujian. Our analysis shows that while market opening has been a key part of the economic reforms since the early 1980s, it has failed to deliver a fundamentally improved incentive structure to forest producers until very recently. This is due to the severe distortions caused by the imposition of price control and taxes and fees, in addition to the logging restrictions. These distortions caused tremendous sacrifices for so long that the local communities have not demonstrated positive responses, as reflected in changed forest condition—removal, area, and stocking. There remain challenges for the markets to function adequately, including restrictions on silvicultural practices, takings of private timberland without fair compensation, and the weak linkages between wood producers and consumers. We argue that China's experience and lesson are of broad international relevance.

Keywords: Market opening; Timber price; Taxes and fees; Incentive structure; Forest policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389934120306791
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:forpol:v:123:y:2021:i:c:s1389934120306791

DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2020.102353

Access Statistics for this article

Forest Policy and Economics is currently edited by M. Krott

More articles in Forest Policy and Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().