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Has Population Growth Improved the Land Quality in Africa?

Has Population Growth Improved the Land Quality in Africa?. Lindsay Winstead David Horlacher Econ 428. Thomas Malthus . Pessimist population increases  degradation of land quality

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Has Population Growth Improved the Land Quality in Africa?

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  1. Has Population Growth Improved the Land Quality in Africa? Lindsay Winstead David Horlacher Econ 428

  2. Thomas Malthus • Pessimist • population increases  degradation of land quality • CHAIN = labor force increases  average wage per worker decreases  decreases living standards  insufficient land quality • new labor hands cannot keep up with increased mouths to feed  output declines

  3. VS. Ester Boserup • Optimist • population increases  enhancement of land quality • CHAIN = increases population levels  increases able workers + food and land scarcity  new technologies invented  improve agricultural innovations  improve land quality • necessity = the mother of invention

  4. Machakos District, Kenya

  5. STUDY • Machakos district, Kenya: “African farmers are rational, resourceful managers who response positively to incentives.” (Siedenburg, 2006) ?

  6. Infrastructure • Due to roads’ cheap interaction coasts, people were able to travel more easily to exchange ideas  more educated on topics that stimulate innovation  developed agricultural techniques

  7. Innovation • Population increased  increased interaction  stimulates innovation, which produces new types of land management

  8. Technology • Intensification of technology, due to increased circulation  connects the enlarged labor force to land investment  permanent cultivation improvement

  9. Agricultural Techniques • Agricultural techniques = plow, bench terracing, and manure  increased land quality due to greater efficiency

  10. Value and Investment • Population growth decreased the availability of soil  greater value embedded within land  stronger incentive to cultivate land • Wise investment is the main source of growth: 1. Livestock 2. Labor

  11. Contradicting Views: In Machakos study…. 1. an irregularity may have occurred during this period 2. the selection of crop choice may have skewed reference price 3. data may have been recorded unevenly throughout the regions

  12. CONCLUSION: Machakos Study Increases in population growth  increases in land quality Optimistic view = Boserupian Theory

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