The Factors that Drive Forestry Export Ties: A Network Perspective

Abstract

Forestry exports are considered one of the major drivers of forest loss worldwide, especially for developing nations. Building on these insights, this article considers the factors that explain forestry flows using a network perspective. Using network data from measuring forestry export flows between all nations from 1997 to 2012, this article offers an explanation for what factors contribute to the network ties of exporting nations in the global forestry network. Fixed effects negative binomial regression analysis for a panel of 94 low- and middle-income nations shows that economic and neo-institutional factors are the strongest predictors of forestry export network ties. The findings have important theoretical and methodological implications. Future research may aim to incorporate more explicit ideas of social connectedness to their cross-national analyses by integrating a network perspective.

Keywords:

• Environment
• forestry export ties
• global trade
• network analysis
• unequal ecological exchange

Acknowledgments

I thank John Shandra, Jason Jones, Andrew Hargrove, Sam Shirazi, and the anonymous reviewers for their insights and help with this manuscript.