Do Large-Scale Forestry Companies Generate Prosperity in Indigenous Communities? The Socio-Economic Impacts of Tree Plantations in Southern Chile

25 Pages Posted: 18 Sep 2020

See all articles by Alvaro Hofflinger

Alvaro Hofflinger

Universidad de la Frontera

Héctor Nahuelpan

Universidad de Los Lagos

Alex Boso

Universidad de la Frontera

Pablo Millalen

The University of Texas at Austin

Date Written: July 17, 2020

Abstract

Since the 1980s, forest plantations have expanded globally in response to the commercial demand for wood products. Research has focused mainly on the economic and environmental impacts (carbon reduction) of the forestry industry. There has been less interest in the social impact of large-scale forestry plantations; in particular, what has been the effect of the expansion of tree plantations on local communities. This research focuses on this issue and evaluates the positive (employment and income) and negative (poverty and income inequality) externalities of the expansion of the forestry industry in Indigenous and non-Indigenous population located in six regions of Southern Chile, where 73% of the rural Indigenous people live, over the period 1997-2015. The findings show that the expansion of the forestry industry has not reduced unemployment or improved incomes for the Indigenous or non-Indigenous population. On the contrary, it has increased poverty and inequality between them.

Suggested Citation

Hofflinger, Alvaro and Nahuelpan, Héctor and Boso, Alex and Millalen, Pablo, Do Large-Scale Forestry Companies Generate Prosperity in Indigenous Communities? The Socio-Economic Impacts of Tree Plantations in Southern Chile (July 17, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3654320 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3654320

Alvaro Hofflinger (Contact Author)

Universidad de la Frontera ( email )

Temuco
Chile

Héctor Nahuelpan

Universidad de Los Lagos ( email )

Avenida Fucshlocher 1305
Osorno
Chile

Alex Boso

Universidad de la Frontera ( email )

Temuco
Chile

Pablo Millalen

The University of Texas at Austin ( email )

United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
217
Abstract Views
930
Rank
217,289
PlumX Metrics