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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
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| Title: | The Tragedy of the Commons, Livestock Cycles and Sustainability |
| Author: | Fafchamps, Marcel |
| Year: | 1998 |
| Periodical: | Journal of African Economies |
| Volume: | 7 |
| Issue: | 3 |
| Period: | October |
| Pages: | 384-423 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | Subsaharan Africa Africa |
| Subjects: | agricultural ecology animal husbandry Economics and Trade Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment Drought and Desertification |
| External link: | https://jae.oxfordjournals.org/content/7/3/384.full.pdf |
| Abstract: | Livestock play an important role in the livelihood of many rural dwellers in semiarid areas in Africa. Drought-driven livestock cycles, possibly magnified by externalities, represent a wasteful and often life-threatening process. This paper investigates the theoretical relationship between these livestock cycles and externalities. It shows that, when production shocks are present and producers fail to fully internalize the effect of their pasture use on other producers, overgrazing results in wide fluctuations of the livestock population. It also notes that overgrazing does not result from producers' impatience - quite the contrary. Because impatient producers are less willing to invest in livestock, they would use pasture resources less intensively. The existence of nonmarketed output and sources of 'on-the-job' satisfaction are shown to contribute to the overaccumulation of livestock and, hence, to livestock cycles. Two forces fuel such cycles: producers' concerns with consumption smoothing; and expected capital gains when demand for livestock products is inelastic. Implications regarding African livestock production are discussed. App., bibliogr., notes, ref. sum. |
