Ethanol production, food and forests

Saraly Andrade de Sa (), Charles Palmer and Stefanie Engel

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: This paper investigates the direct and indirect impacts of ethanol production on land use, deforestation and food production. A partial equilibrium model of a national economy with two sectors and two regions, one of which includes a residual forest, is developed. It analyses how an exogenous increase in the ethanol price affcts input allocation (land and labor) between sectors (energy crop and food). Three potential effects are identified. First, the standard and well-documented effect of direct land competition between rival uses increases deforestation and decreases food production. Second, an indirect displacement of food production across regions, provoked by a shift in the price of food, increases deforestation and reduces the total output of the food sector. Finally, labor mobility between sectors and regions tends to decrease food production but also deforestation. The overall impact of ethanol production on forest conversion is ambiguous, providing a number of interesting pointers to further, empirical research.

Keywords: ethanol; food production; land use; deforestation; direct and indirect effects; migration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q11 Q24 Q42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21 pages
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/27950/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Ethanol Production, Food and Forests (2012)
Working Paper: Ethanol Production, Food and Forests (2010)
Working Paper: Ethanol Production, Food and Forests (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:27950

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