Qanats

Alireza Naghavi and Mohsen Shaeyan ()
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Mohsen Shaeyan: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

No 2307, Working Papers from Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

Abstract: Qanats – traditional Persian irrigation systems first built around 1000 B.C. – required a complex of cooperative local institutions for their construction and maintenance. We show that these institutions produced a (local) culture of cooperation in Iran that persists to the present day when qanats are no longer of economic value. We use unique geo-coded data on qanat coordinates in Iran together with information collected and digitized on cooperative enterprises and find a positive relationship between qanat locations and cooperative activities today. We build an IV using grid-level geological preconditions necessary for the construction and functioning of qanats: gently sloped terrains and intermediate clay content. The cooperation culture persists particularly close to historical trade routes and in areas with stable climatic conditions. The results hold for alternative proxies of social capital, namely the degree to which people trust their neighbours and the pervasiveness of charity-based Islamic microfinance establishments.

Keywords: Irrigation; Cooperation; Qanat; Cooperatives; Social capital; Trade routes; Culture; Persistence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D70 N55 O13 O53 Q13 Q15 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2023-06-14
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ara, nep-evo, nep-his, nep-hme, nep-mfd and nep-soc
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https://download.uni-mainz.de/RePEc/pdf/Discussion_Paper_2307.pdf First version, 2023 (application/pdf)

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Working Paper: Qanats (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jgu:wpaper:2307

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