Economics of transaction costs saving forestry

Following the arguments concerning the problems of traditional forest econo mics in Putt (2000), this article shows that transaction cost economics can overcome some of the shortcomings of the main stream forest economics. The public forestry, subsistence forestry, non-industrial private forestry, Ch ina's share-holding forestry, and their revolutions are analyzed by the rel ative transaction costs of labor, capital, land and forest products. Potent ial implications of transaction cost economics in forest policy, including regulated access to Commons, sustainable forestry criteria, ecological cert ificates and land tenure decentralization, have also been discussed. (C) 20 01 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.