Moving beyond a Snapshot to Understand Changes in the Well-Being of Native Amazonians Panel Evidence (2002-2006) from Bolivia

Forces such as the opening of trade, globalization, multinational corporate resource extraction, urbanization, acculturation, and colonization catalyze economic, ecological, and sociocultural change, which can threaten the well-being and habitat of native Amazonians. Understanding these forces is of paramount importance to improve the well-being of native Amazonians and to foster the conservation of biological diversity, yet most analyses of these forces rely on cross-sectional data. Though adequate to describe the association between variables at one point in time, cross-sectional data do not allow one to estimate changes in well-being over time. We collected data annually during five consecutive years (2002-2006, inclusive) from a foraging and farming society of native Amazonians in Bolivia (Tsimane') to estimate annual rates of change for seven indicators of adult well-being. Indicators encompassed both objective and subjective measures of well-being that included economic, health, psychological, and social dimensions that overlap well with Tsimane' notions of well-being. The annual rate of change in the inflation-adjusted ( hereafter real) value of food consumption (+6.35%), body mass index (+0.71%), and incidence of anger (-10.40%) show significant improvements over time, but the annual rate of change in the self-reported number of recent ailments (+7.35%) shows a significant deterioration. Trends in other indicators of well-being (smiles, real wealth, social relations) show positive but insignificant rates of change. Results did not vary by sex and were consistent when using other indicators of well-being.