“A note on soil depth, failing markets and agricultural pricing”: Comment

Bulte and van Soest [Bulte, E., van Soest, D. 1999. A note on soil depth, failing markets and agricultural pricing. Journal of Development Economics 58, 245-254.] argue that higher agricultural output prices result in greater soil conservation when labor markets function well but have ambiguous effects when labor markets are absent. The latter result is not attributable to labor market failure but rather occurs whenever labor supply is less than perfectly elastic. Consistent with the more general model presented here, empirical evidence from a number of developing countries suggests that well-functioning labor markets are associated with decreases in investment in soils.