An economic model for water allocation in North Eastern Spain

Bielsa, Jorge and Duarte, Rosa (2001): An economic model for water allocation in North Eastern Spain. Published in: International Journal of Water Resources Development , Vol. 17, No. 3 : pp. 397-408.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to construct and apply a model for the allocation of water between two competing users, namely irrigation and hydropower. The model is applied in a case study of a specific water system located in North Eastern Spain. Starting with an irrigation-hydropower joint income function, we develop a constrained maximisation process that takes into account the environmental, institutional and actual priority of the water rights. The resulting solution can be useful as a guide for potential bargains between users. Furthermore, we evaluate the results for different supply (precipitation) and water allotments (increase in irrigated land). The results show that there are sufficient incentives so as to reach agreements that lead to improvements in a Pareto sense without side payments.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Water Economics, Bargaining, Cooperative Games
• Subjects: Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q3 - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation > Q34 - Natural Resources and Domestic and International Conflicts; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q2 - Renewable Resources and Conservation > Q21 - Demand and Supply ; Prices; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q2 - Renewable Resources and Conservation > Q25 - Water

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