Assessing the Impact of Alternative Water Pricing Schemes on Income Distribution

Giacomo Giannoccaro, Maurizio Prosperi and Giacomo Zanni

Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2010, vol. 61, issue 3, 527-544

Abstract: The reform of water pricing policies may represent an effective instrument for enhancing the efficient use of water resource. However, policy makers fear that a change in the pricing methods may cause income loss for some farmers, and that this income inequality may generate public discontent and policy inertia. The aim of this paper was to compare some pricing methods in order to measure their effects on income distribution. The analysis focuses on the income distribution among different types of farms, and the income distribution between different social groups (landowners, capitalists and workers) in the short term. A linear programing model based on expected utility theory is used to take into account the effect of commodity prices and rainfall variability, which are among the most relevant factors affecting farmers’ income. According to the findings, water pricing schemes do not affect the income distribution among farm types, although a significant impact emerges on the distribution among social groups, and in particular on the wages of temporary workers.

Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-9552.2010.00252.x

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:jageco:v:61:y:2010:i:3:p:527-544

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0021-857X

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Agricultural Economics is currently edited by David Harvey

More articles in Journal of Agricultural Economics from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().