Vertical integration in Mexican common property forests.

摘要

One of the missing links in common property research is investigation of the interaction between common property resource users and the market. The present research fills that gap with a study of communities, Mexico's ejidos and comunidades, which coordinate timber production within commonly-owned forest land. The key research questions are: under what conditions does a local community overcome obstacles to cooperation among its members to conduct downstream timber products businesses as opposed to selling raw material, and does the pattern of industrial organization reveal complementarities in investments between timber and nontimber production? The focus on community-level production rather than individual production under a common property resource regime also distinguishes this paper from much of the common property literature.; The dissertation adapts contract theory to Mexican local community control over timber production from communally-held forests to explain a choice of contracts, given community-level characteristics. The research methodology consists of model formulation, development of a survey instrument and empirical estimation of the model based on data gathered through the survey and secondary sources. A basic argument is that community forward integration into downstream timber processing activities is observed for two reasons. First, it reduces the transaction costs of guiding development according to community objectives, which demands decision-making over time in response to changing environments. Second, community forward integration reduces transaction costs of managing forest ecosystem services which inherently require adaptive management approaches. This argument is formally presented as propositions then empirically tested. A corollary states that communities exploit complementarities between timber and nontimber production more efficiently than private, single product firms, leading to more nontimber production under community forward integration.; A survey was administered to a random stratified sample of 42 communities in Oaxaca, a state in southern Mexico. The communities fall into four main categories of vertical integration according to the most processed product sold—stumpage, roundwood, lumber or finished wood products. A summary of the survey data describes the transition of community governance structures into timber production units. Results of the econometric analysis are consistent with the theoretical predictions. Communities opt to integrate forward when able to overcome start-up costs of human capital expertise and organization to guide development within the community. In turn, vertical integration in communities leads to further nontimber production, indicating that economies of scope exist between timber and nontimber production. Conclusions suggest implications for policy makers and common property theory and areas for future research.