The Design of Water Markets When Instream Flows Have Value

The main objective of this paper is to design and test a decentralized exchange mechanism that generates the location-specific pricing necessary to achieve efficient allocations in the presence of instream flow values. Although a market-oriented approach has the potential to improve upon traditional...

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Main Authors: Murphy, J. J., Dinar, A., Howitt, R. E., Rassenti, S. J., Smith, V. L., Weinberg, M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:EN
Published: 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5302
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spelling okr-10986-53022021-04-23T14:02:21Z The Design of Water Markets When Instream Flows Have Value Murphy, J. J. Dinar, A. Howitt, R. E. Rassenti, S. J. Smith, V. L. Weinberg, M. The main objective of this paper is to design and test a decentralized exchange mechanism that generates the location-specific pricing necessary to achieve efficient allocations in the presence of instream flow values. Although a market-oriented approach has the potential to improve upon traditional command and control regulations, questions remain about how these rights-based institutions can be implemented such that the potential gains from liberalized trade can be realized. This article uses laboratory experiments to test three different water market institutions designed to incorporate instream flow values into the allocation mechanism through active participation of an environmental trader. The smart, computer-coordinated market described herein offers the potential to significantly reduce coordination problems and transaction costs associated with finding mutually beneficial trades that satisfy environmental constraints. We find that direct environmental participation in the market can achieve highly efficient and stable outcomes, although the potential does exist for the environmental agent to influence outcomes. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 2012-03-30T07:32:12Z 2012-03-30T07:32:12Z 2009 Journal Article Journal of Environmental Management 0301-4797 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5302 EN http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Journal Article
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language EN
relation http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo
description The main objective of this paper is to design and test a decentralized exchange mechanism that generates the location-specific pricing necessary to achieve efficient allocations in the presence of instream flow values. Although a market-oriented approach has the potential to improve upon traditional command and control regulations, questions remain about how these rights-based institutions can be implemented such that the potential gains from liberalized trade can be realized. This article uses laboratory experiments to test three different water market institutions designed to incorporate instream flow values into the allocation mechanism through active participation of an environmental trader. The smart, computer-coordinated market described herein offers the potential to significantly reduce coordination problems and transaction costs associated with finding mutually beneficial trades that satisfy environmental constraints. We find that direct environmental participation in the market can achieve highly efficient and stable outcomes, although the potential does exist for the environmental agent to influence outcomes. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
format Journal Article
author Murphy, J. J.
Dinar, A.
Howitt, R. E.
Rassenti, S. J.
Smith, V. L.
Weinberg, M.
spellingShingle Murphy, J. J.
Dinar, A.
Howitt, R. E.
Rassenti, S. J.
Smith, V. L.
Weinberg, M.
The Design of Water Markets When Instream Flows Have Value
author_facet Murphy, J. J.
Dinar, A.
Howitt, R. E.
Rassenti, S. J.
Smith, V. L.
Weinberg, M.
author_sort Murphy, J. J.
title The Design of Water Markets When Instream Flows Have Value
title_short The Design of Water Markets When Instream Flows Have Value
title_full The Design of Water Markets When Instream Flows Have Value
title_fullStr The Design of Water Markets When Instream Flows Have Value
title_full_unstemmed The Design of Water Markets When Instream Flows Have Value
title_sort design of water markets when instream flows have value
publishDate 2012
url http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5302
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