Ariel Dinar

The distributional impact of climate change on rich and poor countries

This paper examines the impact of climate change on rich and poor countries across the world. We measure two indices of the relative impact of climate across countries, impact per capita, and impact per GDP. These measures sum market impacts across the climate-sensitive economic sectors of each country. Both indices reveal that climate change will have serious distributional impact across countries, grouped by income per capita. We predict that poor countries will suffer the bulk of the damages from climate change. Although adaptation, wealth, and technology may influence distributional consequences across countries, we argue that the primary reason that poor countries are so vulnerable is their location. Countries in the low latitudes start with very high temperatures. Further warming pushes these countries ever further away from optimal temperatures for climate-sensitive economic sectors.

Pricing irrigation water: a review of theory and practice

Increasing economic pressures on water resources are causing countries to (re)consider various mechanisms to improve water use efficiency. This is especially true for irrigation agriculture, a major consumer of water. ‘‘Getting prices right’’ is seen as one way to allocate water, but how to accomplish this remains a debatable issue. Methods of allocating water are sensitive to physical, social, institutional and political settings, making it necessary to design allocation mechanisms accordingly. This paper surveys current and past views on allocating irrigation water with a focus on efficiency, equity, water institutions, and the political economy of water allocation. r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Climate, Water, and Agriculture

This study explores the interaction between climate, water, and agriculture. We test whether surface water withdrawal can help explain the variation of farm values across the United States and whether adding these variables to the standard Ricardian model changes the measured climate sensitivity of agriculture. The paper finds that the value of irrigated cropland is not sensitive to precipitation and increases in value with temperature. Finally, the paper finds that sprinkler systems are used primarily in wet cool sites, whereas gravity and especially drip systems help compensate for higher temperatures. These results indicate that irrigation can help agriculture adapt to global warming. (JEL Q2, Q15)

The Economics and management of water and drainage in agriculture

The irrigation history of the San Joaquin Valley (Valley) is composed of several phases starting with individuals digging ditches and continuing to the present State Water Plan. Various institutions have developed to assist in the expansion of irrigation. These include the water companies ofthe last century and the water districts created by the Act of 1887. Irrigation has produced an enormous rise in the number of farms, population, and harvested acreage in the Valley. Agriculture in the Valley has changed over time. Initially it was cattle ranching with the prime product being the hides. Around the middle of the last century wheat production began and by the 1870s, following the arrival of the railroad, the Valley was a vast wheat land. Drought and reduced yields resulting from continual cropping began to reduce wheat acreage by the 1890s. This was accelerated by the expansion of irrigation and the increase of intensive agriculture. The major agricultural activities which have developed in the present century are: (1) Dairying, (2) vegetables, (3) orchard crops, and (4) cotton. These four activities accounted for about 82 percent of harvested land in 1987. The great expansion of irrigation was associated with the large increase in ground-water pumpage and the development of the Central Valley Project pumping northern California water to the Valley. The State Water Project now provides additional northern California water to the Valley. The expansion of irrigation has been accompanied by the rise of severe drainage problems which pose a significant threat to the future ofthe Valley. Continued ground-water pumpage is seriously depleting the regions ground-water basin and has produced land subsidence. The Valleys agricultural future is at risk due to: (1) The demand for water for higher valued uses such as municipal and industrial supplies; (2) the environmental need for additional freshwater to maintain the Sacramento!San Joaquin River Delta and San Francisco Bay Estuary; and (3) the necessity to solve the drainage problem. 10 BACKGROUND AND SETIING

Measuring the impact of climate change on Indian agriculture

The set of studies in this report explores farm performance across climates in India. The goal of the study is to examine farm behavior and test if there is any evidence that farmers in developing countries, such as India, currently adjust to their local climates. The reported studies measure the climate sensitivity of low-capital agriculture. They test whether actual farm performance is as sensitive to climate as agronomic models predict assuming no adaptation.

Climate Change and Agriculture

Despite its great importance, there are surprisingly few economic studies of the impact of climate on agriculture and how agriculture can adapt under a variety of conditions. This book examines 22 countries across four continents, including both developed and developing economies. It provides both a good analytical basis for additional work and solid results for policy debate concerning income distributional effects such as abatement, adaptation, and equity.

The effect of development on the climate sensitivity of agriculture

This paper examines whether a countrys stage of development affects its climate sensitivity. The paper begins with a model of agriculture that shows that the effect of development on climate sensitivity is ambiguous, depending on the substitution between capital and climate. To resolve this issue, the climate sensitivity of agriculture in the United States, Brazil, and India is measured using a Ricardian approach. Relying on both intertemporal as well as cross-country comparisons, the empirical analysis suggests that increasing development reduces climate sensitivity.

Institutional changes in global water sector: trends, patterns, and implications ☆

Abstract Water institutions, defined jointly by the interactive roles of water law, water policy, and water administration, are undergoing unprecedented changes worldwide. Despite country-specific variations, these institutional changes observed in the global water sector do evince certain common patterns and clear trends. This paper aims to (i) unravel the nature and origin of these trends and patterns, and (b) evaluate their implications for global water sector policy, based on a review of water institutional changes in 11 countries: Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Spain, Morocco, Israel, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Australia, China, and India. The review suggests that institutional changes within the water sector occur due to the role of both endogenous factors (e.g., water scarcity, performance deterioration, and financial non-viability) as well as exogenous factors (e.g., macro economic crisis, political reform, natural calamities, and technological progress). These factors act together to raise the opportunity costs of institutional change, reduce the corresponding transaction costs, and create a pro-reform climate. From a policy perspective, the synergy from these factors can be exploited well with a sequential reform strategy where water sub-sectors and institutional components are prioritized in terms of their relative performance impact, fiscal significance, facilitative roles for downstream reforms, and political acceptability.

Climate change and agriculture in Africa : impact assessment and adaptation strategies

Foreword * Introduction and Rationale * Study Objectives, Structure, Methodology, Organization and Countries Agroclimatic Conditions * Methods and Models Developed and Used in the Study * Results of the Country Analyses * Results of the Regional Analyses * Summary, Conclusions and Policy Implications * Index

Agricultural water marketing, allocative efficiency, and drainage reduction

Abstract Water marketing is proposed to facilitate water exchange between agriculture and the urban sector. Water market effects on water conservation, economic efficiency, and drainage and environmental pollution reduction are investigated using a micro-level production model. The model is applied to conditions prevailing in the San Joaquin Valley of California, which is currently suffering agricultural drainage problems and environmental degradation. Results suggest that under a variety of conditions, a water market enables the farmer to both invest in an improved irrigation technology and pay for the safe disposal of drainage produced on his fields. Other societal benefits include the reduction in environmental pollution and benefits to the urban sector from additional water for its consumption.