The political economy in forest policy-making: Economic efficiency and beyond

Abstract

The development of political economy and studies of political economy in forest policy -making are reviewed and a case study of U.S. policy-making in restricting Canadian softwood lumber imports is presented. The analysis presented demonstrates that interest group politics and political contributions have worked in the U.S. political and institutional settings and that the results are an inefficient forest products trade policy. The implications are that policy-making does not exist in isolation of political and social structure, and that the outcomes of theoretical economic models are greatly influenced by these structures. Forest economists and forest managers can better explain, anticipate, and predict the outcomes of various forest policy developments with a better understanding of political economy.