Full Citation

Title: From Decentralized to Centralized Irrigation Management

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2017

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Abstract: Surface water irrigators in arid regions confront public good issues for building and maintaining shared infrastructure as well as common-pool resource issues to appropriate the surface water. Drawing on the unique history of New Mexico, I explore how the transition in the early 20 th century from the original small decentralized communal Spanish irrigation systems (acequias) to centralized quasi-public irrigation districts altered agricultural development and production. My results confirm that that irrigation districts can significantly improve outcomes when investing in costly infrastructure to expand irrigated acreage, increasing farmland values up to 33 percent. However, I find no broader evidence that the centralized control of water distribution provides any gains to acreage previously under irrigation by the decentralized acequias.

Url: http://econbus-papers.mines.edu/working-papers/wp201709.pdf

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Authors: Smith, Steven, M

Series Title: Division of Economics and Business Working Paper Series

Publication Number: 2017-09

Institution: Colorado School of Mines

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Publisher Location: Golden, CO

Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Natural Resource Management, Other

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