Panel data evidence on upland agricultural land use in the Philippines: Can economic policy reforms reduce environmental damage?

In this paper we investigate determinants of land use decisions made by farmers in an upland area of the Philippines. Our goal is to quantify land use responses to economic signals, especially agricultural prices, and thereby to shed light on the impacts of policies affecting such prices. We use a decade-long panel of farm-level data on agricultural practices and prices. We find that prices do indeed matter to upland land use decisions, and thus that policy reforms, such as those required by accession to the WTO, may be influential if indirect determinants of land use patterns in these politically and environmentally sensitive areas.