HR: 14:55h
AN: H23L-06 [Abstracts]
TI: The role of price and enforcement in water allocation: insights from Game Theory
AU: * Souza Filho, F
EM: assis@iri.columbia.edu
AF: International Research Institute for Climate and Socity/ Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, United States
AU: Lall, U
EM: ulall@columbia.edu
AF: International Research Institute for Climate and Socity/ Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, United States
AU: Lall, U
EM: ulall@columbia.edu
AF: Departamente of Earth and Eviromental Enginering Columbia Unversity, 918 MUDD, 500W
120TH ST, New Yor, ny 10027, United States
AU: Porto, R
EM: rlporto@usp.br
AF: University of São Paulo, Universidade de São Paulo, Escola Politécnica, Departamento de
Engenharia Hidráulica e Sanitária.
Av. Prof. Almeida Prado, 83, travessa 2
Cidade Universitária, São Paulo, SP 05508-900, Brazil
AB:
As many countries are moving towards water sector reforms, practical issues of how water management
institutions can better effect allocation, regulation and enforcement of water rights have emerged. The uncertainty
associated with water that is available at a particular diversion point becomes a parameter that is likely to
influence the behavior of water users as to their application for water licenses, as well as their willingness to pay
for licensed use. The ability of a water agency to reduce this uncertainty through effective water rights enforcement
is related to the fiscal ability of the agency to sustain the enforcement effort. In this paper, this interplay across the
users and the agency is explored, considering the hydraulic structure or sequence of water use, and parameters
that define the users and the agency's economics. The potential for free rider behavior by the users, as well as
their proposals for licensed use are derived conditional on this setting. The analyses presented are developed in
the framework of the theory of "Law and Economics", with user interactions modeled as a game theoretic
enterprise. The state of Ceara, Brazil is used loosely as an example setting, with parameter values for the
experiments indexed to be approximately those relevant for current decisions. The potential for using the ideas in
participatory decision making is discussed.
DE: 1880 Water management (6334)
DE: 1884 Water supply
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting