Sarah Ann Wheeler

Price elasticity of water allocations demand in the Goulburn–Murray Irrigation District

Bid prices for the demand and supply of water allocations between 2001 and 2007, and average monthly prices paid for water allocations from 1997 to 2007 in the Goulburn-Murray Irrigation District are analysed to estimate price elasticities. Based on bid prices, the price elasticity of demand for water allocations appears highly elastic, with elasticities strongly influenced by the season and drought. The price elasticity of supply for water allocations is also elastic, albeit less elastic than demand. Using actual prices paid, water demand is negatively related to price and is inelastic, and appears to be most influenced by demand the previous month, drought and seasonality factors. Copyright 2008 The Authors.

Allocation Trade in Australia: A Qualitative Understanding of Irrigator Motives and Behaviour

Governments in Australia are purchasing water entitlements to secure water for environmental benefit, but entitlements generate an allocation profile that does not correspond fully to environmental flow requirements. Therefore, how environmental managers will operate to deliver small and medium-sized inundation environmental flows remains uncertain. To assist environmental managers with the supply of inundation flows at variable times, it has been suggested that allocation trade be incorporated into efforts aimed at securing water. This paper provides some qualitative and quantitative perspective on what influences southern Murray–Darling Basin irrigators to trade allocation water at specific times across and within seasons using a market transaction framework. The results suggest that while irrigators now have access to greater risk-management options, environmental managers should consider the possible impact of institutional change before intervening in traditional market activity. The findings may help improve the design of intervention strategies to minimise possible market intervention impacts and strategic behaviour.

Valuing New Zealand recreational fishing and an assessment of the validity of the contingent valuation estimates

This article presents estimates of the recreational value of fishing in New Zealand. The data was obtained from a large‐scale interview conducted at boat ramps across New Zealand. The results suggest that the recreational value of a species depends critically on the motives for targeting a particular species. Species targeted for eating purposes have marginal values that appear to closely reflect the market price of the fish (i.e. the opportunity cost). In contrast, those species which are sought mainly for recreational purposes, have a higher value. Furthermore, values for these fish types were found to be greatest for scarce species and large species of fish. The article examines the robustness of the estimates to determine whether strategic bias, embedding effects or hypothetical bias influence the results.

Key Findings from a Survey of Sellers to the Restoring the Balance Programme

This study provides the key results from a survey of water entitlement sellers to the Commonwealths Restoring the Balance programme. At the start of 2012, the programme was a third of the way to achieving the current environmental water target. A large-scale survey of water sellers found that 60 per cent of respondents had sold some water and kept farming; 30 per cent sold all water and left farming; and 10 per cent sold all water and continued farming. The majority were compelled to sell water because of debt and cash flow issues, but many used the sale as an opportunity to restructure and achieve other objectives. Half of the respondents who continued farming said selling water had no farm production consequences.

The barriers to further adoption of organic farming and genetic engineering in Australia: views of agricultural professionals and their information sources

Research has shown that agricultural professionals are one of the major influences on farmer adoption of agricultural innovations. Genetic engineering and organic farming represent two vastly different innovations in agriculture, and both assert to have important sustainability outcomes. This paper presents the views from a telephone survey of agricultural scientists, extension officers and academics in Australia ( n =185) on the barriers to further adoption of organic farming and agricultural genetic engineering, as well as exploring where they obtain their information about the two innovations. Many professionals believe that market issues (in terms of small market size and the extent that consumers are willing to pay premiums) will limit the size of farmer adoption of organics in Australia, while on-farm issues (in terms of production difficulties and pest and disease problems) are named as the second largest barrier to further adoption. On the other hand, professionals from the targeted sample, who were more knowledgeable about organic farming, named information needs and lack of government support as the major barrier facing further diffusion of organic farming. In contrast, public attitudes and negative media portrayal are named as the largest barrier facing further adoption of genetic engineering in Australia. The uncertainty surrounding the research into genetic engineering (and the lack of long-term research) is believed to be the second largest barrier facing further diffusion of genetic engineering while market problems are seen as the third largest barrier.

On the Marketisation of Water: Evidence from the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia

Policy makers will increasingly have to turn to water demand management in the future to respond to greater water scarcity. Water markets have long been promoted as one of the most efficient ways to reallocate water by economists, but have also been subject to much criticism due to their possible social, economic and environmental impacts. We engage with common critical perceptions of water markets by presenting first-hand evidence of their effects in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), Australia. Water markets in the MDB, as developed within an appropriate institutional framework and coupled with comprehensive water planning, have: (1) helped deliver improved environmental outcomes; (2) assisted irrigators’ adaptation responses to climate risks, such as drought; (3) increased the gross valued added of farming; and (4) been regulated in ways to meet social goals. If water markets are embedded within fair and effective meta-governance and property right structures, the potential exists for marketisation to increase efficiency, promote fairness in terms of initial water allocations, and to improve environmental outcomes.

Acquiring Water for the Environment: Lessons from Natural Resources Management

ABSTRACT Over-allocation of water resources to irrigation, industry, and cities has severely impacted flow-dependent riverine ecosystems and led to growing interest in ways to restore water to the environment; one increasingly popular approach is water buybacks. This paper reviews US and Australian experiences in buying back water, focusing on the conditions which enable and inhibit environmental water acquisitions in each country. We also compare experiences with buyback efforts in fisheries, another natural resource sector. Lessons from these experiences provide important insights into how future water buyback programmes to acquire environmental water could be operated more effectively. The review suggests that the overall success of an environmental water buyback is likely to be enhanced by (1) legal and institutional settings which clearly define water rights and lower administrative and other barriers to water transfers, (2) non-governmental organizations and community groups which play a complementary role to government, (3) creation of a system that will fairly distribute future risk of water availability and provide choices for a variety of ways of obtaining water, and (4) efforts that minimize negative community impacts, thus helping to maximize irrigator participation.

Measuring Price Elasticities of Demand and Supply of Water Entitlements Based on Stated and Revealed Preference Data

Estimates of price elasticities of water entitlements (known as permanent water or water rights in the United States) are complicated by data limitations and problems of endogeneity. To overcome these issues, we develop an approach to generate stated preference data and combine them with revealed preference data to estimate price elasticities from various types of water entitlement sales in the southern Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. Our results suggest that price elasticities of demand and supply of high security water entitlements are inelastic in the relevant market price range between AUD

The Influence of Gaming Expenditure on Crime Rates in South Australia: A Local Area Empirical Investigation

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Review of Organic Farming Policy in Australia: Time to Wipe the Slate Clean?

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