Background

The word economy comes originally from the Greek οἰκονομία, meaning “the management of the household” – in turn derived from the words οἶκος (ecos, house) and νόμος (nomos, law or custom).1 By relation, it shares a root with the word ecology, this time combining οἶκος with the word for study, λογία (logia) – i.e., ecology is the study of our collective home. This notion of economics evoking the well-being of a household or city is sensible, especially when considering the complex questions of land use being debated today. Likewise, the connection between economy and ecology is wise, for while there are considerations for humans in economic questions, there are also considerations of the well-being of the land and its nonhuman inhabitants.

Specifically, the forests of Brazil compose roughly 12% of the world’s forest cover. Perhaps more important, those forests – the Amazon being the best known – provide one of the most important carbon sinks on earth (helping to naturally control the amount of carbon dixoide and other greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. In a word, Brazilian forests are critical for human well-being in the long term.

Since I lived in Brazil previously and I remember the forests well, this issue is of concern to me both as a resident of earth and as someone with a connection to Brazil. Over the last decade, I have grown increasingly concerned over the policies of the Brazilian government regarding the rainforest (see Policy Report). For example, the Brazilian constitution asserts that the first step twoard claiming land for any kind of development is to clear it – in practice, allowing for forests to be cut while there is still debate over what to do with a parcel of land (and who has the authority to manage it).

Two major aspects of this seem to get international attention: the growth of the Brazilian economy and the loss of forests. In plainest terms, I’m asking, how are these related?

“Space” vs “Place”

Pred (1984) asserts that the shift of a “space” to a “place” is as the result of structuration processes. Moreover, this process is contingent on various histories of a place and how those histories are understood. For example, in Brazil indigenous history in relationship to the forests is not considered part of the official narrative and creates friction between logging companies or farmers and Indigenous leaders. some of these rural indigenous or Quilombola communities are barred from participating in the census, and thereby lack access to federal resources. Given the views of the Brazilian government, Pred’s notion of “structuration” also applies to the clearing of land and different degrees of asserting a human presence in a place.

Ecosystem Services

Roos et al (2018) have applied Von Thünen’s model to renewable land use with ecosystem services. Their analysis primarily focuses on services like ecotourism (which is popluar in Brazil, such as with the Tijuca Forest in the northern district of Rio de Janeiro). Martínez-García and Morales (2019) have also considered the application of ecosystem services and renewable resources to the Core-Periphery Model.

While both frameworks did not prove directly relevant to the current iteration of my project, they do demonstrate ways in which econometric models can better consider ecological questions. In this way, they are also worthy of later consideration as patterns in the data emerge.

Next: Data

  1. Additionally, the word econometrics adds the word for “measure,” μέτρον. ↩