 The Economic Value of Clarifying Property Rights: Evidence from Water in Idaho’s Snake River BasinOliver R. Browne and Xinde James Ji Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2023, vol. 119, issue C Abstract: This paper exploits a novel reform in Idaho to measure the economic value created by clarifying property rights for water. Between 1987–2014, the Snake River Basin adjudication determined who had legal rights to use water, covering 139,000 water rights and 90% of Idaho’s water use. Using differences in the timing of adjudication between different sub-basins, we find that adjudication caused a 140% increase in the frequency of water right trades and transfers; that these trades and transfers moved water to parcels of land more suitable for irrigated agriculture; that water-use intensity remains unchanged after adjudication; and that adjudication prompts irrigators, especially those owning surface water rights, to shift from lower-value to higher-value land uses. These changes create benefits with a present value of at least $402.7 million, outweighing the one-time fixed cost of $94 million Idaho spent on adjudication. Keywords: Prior appropriation; Water rights adjudication; Property rights; Water markets; Snake River Basin (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:119:y:2023:i:c:s0095069623000177 DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2023.102799 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Environmental Economics and Management is currently edited by M.A. Cole, A. Lange, D.J. Phaneuf, D. Popp, M.J. Roberts, M.D. Smith, C. Timmins, Q. Weninger and A.J. Yates More articles in Journal of Environmental Economics and Management from Elsevier |
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