The Fallow and the Non-Fallow States in Swidden Agriculture: A Stochastic Analysis

RIT Economics Department Working Paper No. 09-01

13 Pages Posted: 19 Jan 2009

See all articles by Amitrajeet A. Batabyal

Amitrajeet A. Batabyal

Rochester Institute of Technology

Peter Nijkamp

VU University of Amsterdam - Department of Spatial Economics; Tinbergen Institute

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: January 16, 2009

Abstract

At any point in time, a cleared parcel of forest land (CPFL) used for swidden agriculture exists in either the fallow or in the non-fallow state. Further, the practice of swidden agriculture requires one to operate in an environment of uncertainty. These two points notwithstanding, there are virtually no probabilistic models of swidden agriculture that explicitly account for the above dichotomy. Hence, in this paper, we use a stochastic model and a long run perspective to shed light on two hitherto unstudied questions concerning a CPFL used for swidden agriculture. First, we use renewal theory to determine the long run fraction of time that our CPFL is in either the fallow or in the non-fallow state. Second, we use the hyperexponential distribution to compute the stationary probability that the excess variable associated with the stochastic process representing our CPFL exceeds a given value.

Keywords: Fallow State, Non-Fallow State, Stochastic Process, Swidden Agriculture

JEL Classification: Q15, C44

Suggested Citation

Batabyal, Amitrajeet A. and Nijkamp, Peter, The Fallow and the Non-Fallow States in Swidden Agriculture: A Stochastic Analysis (January 16, 2009). RIT Economics Department Working Paper No. 09-01, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1329398 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1329398

Amitrajeet A. Batabyal (Contact Author)

Rochester Institute of Technology ( email )

Department of Economics, RIT
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Peter Nijkamp

VU University of Amsterdam - Department of Spatial Economics ( email )

De Boelelaan 1105
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Netherlands
+31 20 4446091 (Phone)
+31 20 4445611 (Fax)

Tinbergen Institute

Gustav Mahlerplein 117
Amsterdam, 1082 MS
Netherlands

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