Bhattarai, KeshavTiwari, Sailesh2012-03-192012-03-192011-12-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/3676International migration has increased rapidly in recent decades and this has been accompanied by a remarkable increase in transfers made by migrants to their home countries. This paper investigates the effect of the rural economic growth brought about by migration and remittances on Nepal's Himalayan forests. The authors assemble a unique village-panel dataset combining remote sensing data on land use and forest cover change with data from the census and multiple rounds of living standards surveys to test various inter-relationships between population, economic growth and forests. The results suggest that rural economic growth spurred by remittances has had an overall positive impact on forests. The paper also finds that remittances caused an increase in rural wages and an increase in income, but a decrease in land prices. Considered together, however, the relationship between forests and remittances is driven largely through the income channel, indicating that the demand for amenities provided by forests in the rural Nepali setting may have been more important than factor prices in influencing land use changes for the period of the study.CC BY 3.0 IGOABSOLUTE VALUEADULT POPULATIONADVERSE WEATHERAFFORESTATIONAGRICULTURAL COMMUNITIESAGRICULTURAL ENCROACHMENTAGRICULTURAL LANDAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONAGRICULTURAL SECTORAGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGYAGRICULTUREALLOCATION OF LANDBARREN LANDBRAIN DRAINCAPITAL MARKETSCENSUSESCHANGE IN POPULATIONCHILD LABORCIVIL WARCLIMATECLIMATE CHANGECOALCOASTAL AREASCOMMON LANDCOMMUNITY FORESTCOMMUNITY FORESTRYCOMMUNITY FORESTSCOMPETITIVE MARKETSCONSEQUENCES OF MIGRATIONCONSTANT RETURNS TO SCALECULTURAL CHANGECULTURAL PRACTICEDEFORESTATIONDEGRADED FORESTDEGRADED FOREST LANDDEMAND FOR SERVICESDEMOCRACYDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT POLICYDISASTERSDROUGHTDRY SEASONECONOMIC ACTIVITYECONOMIC CONDITIONSECONOMIC CONSEQUENCESECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC OPPORTUNITYECONOMICSECONOMICS OF IMMIGRATIONEDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTELASTICITY OF DEMANDENVIRONMENT AND POPULATIONENVIRONMENTALENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERSENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTENVIRONMENTAL KUZNETSENVIRONMENTAL SHOCKENVIRONMENTAL SHOCKSEQUILIBRIUMETHNIC GROUPSEXPENDITURESFAMILY MEMBERSFERTILITYFIREWOODFLOW OF INFORMATIONFLOW OF PEOPLEFODDERFORESTFOREST ACTFOREST AREAFOREST AREASFOREST CONDITIONSFOREST COVERFOREST COVER CHANGEFOREST DEGRADATIONFOREST EXTRACTIONFOREST GROWTHFOREST LABORFOREST LANDFOREST OFFICERSFOREST PRODUCTFOREST PRODUCTSFOREST RESOURCESFOREST SECTORFOREST USEFOREST USERFORESTRYFORESTRY MANAGEMENTFORESTRY SECTORFORESTSGOVERNMENT POLICIESGREEN REVOLUTIONHOST COUNTRYHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD LEVELHOUSEHOLD SIZEHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHUMAN CAPITALHUMAN SETTLEMENTILLEGAL LOGGINGIMMIGRANTSIMPACT OF MIGRATIONIMPACT OF POPULATIONINCIDENCE OF POVERTYINFLOW OF REMITTANCESINTERNATIONAL BORDERSINTERNATIONAL MIGRANTSINTERNATIONAL MIGRATIONINVESTMENT IN EDUCATIONISSUESKINSHIPLABOR FORCELABOR INPUTSLABOR MARKETLABOR MARKETSLABOR SUPPLYLAND ALLOCATIONLAND AREALAND COVERLAND COVER CHANGELAND COVER TYPELAND RECLAMATIONLAND RENTALLAND RENTSLAND USELAND USE CHANGESLAND USE DATALAND USE DECISIONSLAND-COVERLANDSCAPELARGE TRACTS OF FORESTLIVESTOCKLIVING STANDARDSLOCAL COMMUNITIESLOCAL COMMUNITYLOCAL ENVIRONMENTLOGGINGMARGINAL PRODUCTMARGINAL REVENUEMATURE FORESTSMIGRANTMIGRANT WORKERSMIGRANTSMIGRATIONMIGRATION FLOWSMINESMOUNTAINOUS AREASMOUNTAINSMOVEMENT OF PEOPLENATIONAL FORESTSNATIONAL LEVELNATURAL DISASTERSNATURAL ENVIRONMENTNATURAL RESOURCENATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENTNATURAL RESOURCESNUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDSNUMBER OF MIGRANTSOFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCEPEACEPOLICY DISCUSSIONSPOLICY RESEARCHPOLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPERPOLITICAL INSTABILITYPOPULATION CENSUSPOPULATION DENSITIESPOPULATION DENSITYPOPULATION GROWTHPOPULATION SIZEPOPULATION VARIABLEPOTENTIAL MIGRANTSPRICE ELASTICITY OF DEMANDPRIVATE FORESTSPRODUCTION TECHNOLOGYPROGRESSPUBLIC GOODPURCHASING POWERPURCHASING POWER PARITYRAINFALLREFUGESREMITTANCEREMITTANCESREMOTE SENSING DATARESPECTROAD DENSITYROADSRURAL AREASRURAL DEVELOPMENTRURAL POPULATIONRURAL POVERTYSATELLITE DATASATELLITE IMAGERYSOCIAL INSTITUTIONSSOCIAL MOBILIZATIONSPATIAL MOBILITYSPILLOVERTECHNOLOGICAL CHANGETEMPORARY MIGRATIONTIMBERURBAN AREASURBAN CENTERURBAN CENTERSUSE OF FORESTSVEGETATIONVILLAGE FORESTVILLAGESWAGESWARWARSWEATHER SHOCKWEATHER SHOCKSWORK FORCEWORKFORCEWORKING POPULATIONWORLD POPULATIONWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-5907