Governing the Commons? : Water and Power in Pakistan's Indus Basin
Surface irrigation is a common pool resource characterized by asymmetric appropriation opportunities across upstream and downstream water users. Large canal systems are also predominantly managed by the state. This paper studies water allocation un...
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/598661519220552334/Governing-the-commons-water-and-power-in-Pakistans-Indus-basin http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29411 |
| Summary: | Surface irrigation is a common pool
resource characterized by asymmetric appropriation
opportunities across upstream and downstream water users.
Large canal systems are also predominantly managed by the
state. This paper studies water allocation under an
irrigation bureaucracy subject to corruption and
rent-seeking. Data on the landholdings and political
influence of nearly a quarter million irrigators in
Pakistan's vast Indus Basin watershed allow the
construction of a novel index of lobbying power. Consistent
with a model of misgovernance, the decline in water
availability and land values from channel head to tail is
accentuated along canals having greater lobbying power at
the head than at the tail. |
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