Pfeiffer, Lisa and C.-Y. Cynthia Lin

from ARE Update Vol. 12, No. 6, Jul/Aug, 2009

View Article PDF: Incentive-Based Groundwater Conservation Programs: Perverse Consequences?

Abstract

We consider two voluntary, incentive-based groundwater conservation programs and estimate their effects
on groundwater extraction for irrigated agriculture. We find that the programs do not have the intended effect; the subsidization of more efficient irrigation technology induces the production of more water-intensive crops, thus increasing total extraction, and land retirement programs are generally not utilized on irrigated land, thus having little effect on groundwater extraction.

Keywords

groundwater conservation programs, groundwater extraction, irrigated agriculture

Citation

Pfeiffer, Lisa and C.-Y. Cynthia Lin. 2009. "Incentive-Based Groundwater Conservation Programs: Perverse Consequences?" ARE Update 12(6): 1-4. University of California Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics.
https://giannini.ucop.edu/filer/file/1453327752/16814/