Abstract:
We comment on four aspects of Albers' [1] model of ecological constraints on tropical forest management. Albers structures her model in a highly asymmetric manner, with strong, uniform biases against development and in favor of preservation. Despite Albers' repeated claims that her model is "complete" and that it has significant implications for tropical forest management, we contend instead that the results of a truly general, empirically defensible model are inherently ambiguous. Spatial and intertemporal dimensions clearly matter, but they do not point as neatly in favor of preservation as Albers would have us believe.