Year of Award
2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
Master of Arts (MA)
Degree Name
Economics
Department or School/College
Economics
Committee Chair
Amanda Dawsey
Committee Co-chair
Robert Sonora
Commitee Members
Amanda Dawsey, Robert Sonora, Jeffery Bookwalter
Subject Categories
Agricultural and Resource Economics | Regional Economics
Abstract
There is limited understanding of the relationship between timber harvest and economic outcomes in the western United States. I use resource curse theory to examine the connection. The theory assumes a negative relationship between timber harvest and economic performance at the county level, and similar methods have been used to look at other natural resources and geographic areas. I use timber harvest intensity—the ratio of timber harvest volume to timberland acres—alongside several common economic controls including education, poverty, and competing industry activity to estimate wage and employment performance in a fixed-effects econometric model. Also estimated are least squares dummy variable model and a random effects model. I find no conclusive evidence of the resource curse in several western US states, and the findings have applications in additional on-going research.
Recommended Citation
Koch, Lucas Paul, "THE RESOURCE CURSE AND U.S. TIMBER HARVEST IN WESTERN RURAL ECONOMIES" (2025). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 12522.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/12522
© Copyright 2025 Lucas Paul Koch