Abstract Villages closer to urban centers often have higher economic growth, better agricultural ... more Abstract Villages closer to urban centers often have higher economic growth, better agricultural conditions and better welfare outcomes. However, few studies have linked villages’ proximity to urban centers with governance of the commons. In this paper, we explore the effects of urban proximity on the irrigation commons using ordered probit models, stepwise regression and the Sobel-Goodman mediation test, with survey data from 1257 villages in 306 counties and 27 provinces across China. We find that villages’ proximity to provincial economic centers has a direct and positive effect on collective action in the irrigation commons, which could be attributed to farmers’ incentives for agricultural intensification. Agriculture in villages closer to market centers is more commercially oriented, which gives farmers incentives to participate in collective action to reap the benefits of maintaining the irrigation commons. We also find that proximity between the village and the provincial economic center increases irrigation collective action through the mediated effects of village topography, population and collective income. The results enrich the literature of commons study and imply that distance to the economic center should be considered in policy making for rural revitalization and implementation of the New Urban Agenda as well as the Sustainable Development Goals.
Water scarcity ranks as one of China's most serious problems today and in the foreseeable fut... more Water scarcity ranks as one of China's most serious problems today and in the foreseeable future. Rapid urbanization and industrialization and the attendant problems of overconsumption, pollution and inefficient water use have driven and will continue to drive China's water crisis. Most scholars assert that improving water governance is the key to water security in developing countries including China. However, there are very few empirical studies to support this claim. We compare water governance in 10 Chinese provinces in terms of 17 indicators of water laws, policies and administration based on a survey of 89 water experts. We then explore the effects of water governance on water sector performance in terms of adequacy of drinking water, availability of water resources and water productivity. Our findings are consistent with the literature and our expectations but more rigorous studies are needed to establish causal links between governance mechanisms and performance.
International Journal of Water Resources Development, 2013
ABSTRACT The present paper reviews the literature on urban water demand management and compares p... more ABSTRACT The present paper reviews the literature on urban water demand management and compares practices in South-East Asia. Existing literature is mostly from developed economies and is concerned mainly with elasticity studies, which are not relevant to developing countries because their main problem is non-revenue water. Cities in South-East Asia employ both price and non-price mechanisms to regulate demand. Price mechanisms include increasing block tariffs, fixed, volumetric, raw water, and conservancy charges, rebates, cross-subsidies and periodic rebasing. Non-price mechanisms such as management, engineering and regulatory mechanisms, as well as public education and community involvement, play important roles. More studies are needed to establish their efficacy and cost-effectiveness.
Abstract Over the last several years, the rights of local communities over natural resources have... more Abstract Over the last several years, the rights of local communities over natural resources have been strengthened either through power-sharing agreements with the state, increased legal access to natural resources, or decentralization within national agencies. Understanding the impacts of these institutional changes is important both for governments and other stakeholders.
Mass media can, and often do, play a critical role in policymaking. The typical view of media is ... more Mass media can, and often do, play a critical role in policymaking. The typical view of media is that they matter in the early stages of the policy process—that media can help to set an agenda, which is then adopted and dealt with by politicians, policymakers, and other actors. The impact of media is rarely so constrained, however. Our argument here, in short, is that media matter, not just at the beginning but throughout the policy process.
Abstract I compare the performance of urban water bureaucracies in 21 major cities in India with ... more Abstract I compare the performance of urban water bureaucracies in 21 major cities in India with 18 major cities across Southeast Asia using survey data and political economy analyses. I find that water bureaucracies in Southeast Asia are substantially more effective and efficient compared with those in India.
Abstract:" I argue in this paper that transaction cost is central to the analytics of climate ada... more Abstract:" I argue in this paper that transaction cost is central to the analytics of climate adaptation in the local commons. I illustrate this by bringing together insights from Coase on tradability of property rights, Ostrom on institutional design principles for long lived commons and Williamson on transaction cost and governance mechanisms. I call this the COW model on the analytics of climate adaptation, which I illustrate using grounded theory in the case of the 400-year old zangjera irrigation societies in Northern Philippines.
Abstract: Decentralization has often been prescribed as an institutional panacea for a wide range... more Abstract: Decentralization has often been prescribed as an institutional panacea for a wide range of problems facing developing countries. This study investigates the impacts of decentralization on the ability of individuals to solve collective action problems in a large-scale common pool resource.
Abstract Foreign aid plays an important role in developing countries but little is empirically kn... more Abstract Foreign aid plays an important role in developing countries but little is empirically known how it affects incentives of recipient bureaucracies. I provide a model and analytic case study to understand the strategic games that donors and bureaucrats play. My findings are broadly consistent with the theoretical expectations of institutional rational choice: bureaucrats attempt to ensure bureaucratic survival while donors ensure growth of loan portfolio. These findings, however, are not consistent with the
Anthropologists have speculated on a variety of reasons why ancient societies have collapsed over... more Anthropologists have speculated on a variety of reasons why ancient societies have collapsed overtime. Examples of these include the Eastern Island, Pitcairn Island, Henderson Island, the Anasazi, the Classic Lowland Maya and the Greenland Norse.
Abstract Public sector monopolies are often associated with inefficiencies and inability to meet ... more Abstract Public sector monopolies are often associated with inefficiencies and inability to meet rising demand. Scholars attribute this to fundamental problems associated with public provision: i) a tradition of below cost pricing due to populist pressures; ii) ownerregulator conflicts of interest and iii) perverse organizational incentives arising from noncredible threat of bankruptcy, weak competition, rigidities and agency and performance measurement problems.
At least 25 developing countries are embarking on irrigation governance reforms to address the pe... more At least 25 developing countries are embarking on irrigation governance reforms to address the persistent problem of poor irrigation performance. Some scholars suggest that the patterns of construction, deterioration, rehabilitation, and modernization commonly found among irrigation agencies in these countries are rational because of the time inconsistency problem of information.
Is foreign aid compatible with good governance? Using the case of irrigation aid in the Philippin... more Is foreign aid compatible with good governance? Using the case of irrigation aid in the Philippines, I hypothesise that aid is embedded in a perverse set of incentives which could undermine the application of good governance principles espoused by donors. My findings suggest that the problems of “moral hazard” and aid fungibility are embedded in irrigation aid. Furthermore, these incentives also drive a vicious cycle in irrigation commonly found in many developing countries. These findings indeed suggest that incentives structured into the relationship between donors and irrigation agencies may undermine the application of some principles of good governance espoused by donors.
Abstract Villages closer to urban centers often have higher economic growth, better agricultural ... more Abstract Villages closer to urban centers often have higher economic growth, better agricultural conditions and better welfare outcomes. However, few studies have linked villages’ proximity to urban centers with governance of the commons. In this paper, we explore the effects of urban proximity on the irrigation commons using ordered probit models, stepwise regression and the Sobel-Goodman mediation test, with survey data from 1257 villages in 306 counties and 27 provinces across China. We find that villages’ proximity to provincial economic centers has a direct and positive effect on collective action in the irrigation commons, which could be attributed to farmers’ incentives for agricultural intensification. Agriculture in villages closer to market centers is more commercially oriented, which gives farmers incentives to participate in collective action to reap the benefits of maintaining the irrigation commons. We also find that proximity between the village and the provincial economic center increases irrigation collective action through the mediated effects of village topography, population and collective income. The results enrich the literature of commons study and imply that distance to the economic center should be considered in policy making for rural revitalization and implementation of the New Urban Agenda as well as the Sustainable Development Goals.
Water scarcity ranks as one of China's most serious problems today and in the foreseeable fut... more Water scarcity ranks as one of China's most serious problems today and in the foreseeable future. Rapid urbanization and industrialization and the attendant problems of overconsumption, pollution and inefficient water use have driven and will continue to drive China's water crisis. Most scholars assert that improving water governance is the key to water security in developing countries including China. However, there are very few empirical studies to support this claim. We compare water governance in 10 Chinese provinces in terms of 17 indicators of water laws, policies and administration based on a survey of 89 water experts. We then explore the effects of water governance on water sector performance in terms of adequacy of drinking water, availability of water resources and water productivity. Our findings are consistent with the literature and our expectations but more rigorous studies are needed to establish causal links between governance mechanisms and performance.
International Journal of Water Resources Development, 2013
ABSTRACT The present paper reviews the literature on urban water demand management and compares p... more ABSTRACT The present paper reviews the literature on urban water demand management and compares practices in South-East Asia. Existing literature is mostly from developed economies and is concerned mainly with elasticity studies, which are not relevant to developing countries because their main problem is non-revenue water. Cities in South-East Asia employ both price and non-price mechanisms to regulate demand. Price mechanisms include increasing block tariffs, fixed, volumetric, raw water, and conservancy charges, rebates, cross-subsidies and periodic rebasing. Non-price mechanisms such as management, engineering and regulatory mechanisms, as well as public education and community involvement, play important roles. More studies are needed to establish their efficacy and cost-effectiveness.
Abstract Over the last several years, the rights of local communities over natural resources have... more Abstract Over the last several years, the rights of local communities over natural resources have been strengthened either through power-sharing agreements with the state, increased legal access to natural resources, or decentralization within national agencies. Understanding the impacts of these institutional changes is important both for governments and other stakeholders.
Mass media can, and often do, play a critical role in policymaking. The typical view of media is ... more Mass media can, and often do, play a critical role in policymaking. The typical view of media is that they matter in the early stages of the policy process—that media can help to set an agenda, which is then adopted and dealt with by politicians, policymakers, and other actors. The impact of media is rarely so constrained, however. Our argument here, in short, is that media matter, not just at the beginning but throughout the policy process.
Abstract I compare the performance of urban water bureaucracies in 21 major cities in India with ... more Abstract I compare the performance of urban water bureaucracies in 21 major cities in India with 18 major cities across Southeast Asia using survey data and political economy analyses. I find that water bureaucracies in Southeast Asia are substantially more effective and efficient compared with those in India.
Abstract:" I argue in this paper that transaction cost is central to the analytics of climate ada... more Abstract:" I argue in this paper that transaction cost is central to the analytics of climate adaptation in the local commons. I illustrate this by bringing together insights from Coase on tradability of property rights, Ostrom on institutional design principles for long lived commons and Williamson on transaction cost and governance mechanisms. I call this the COW model on the analytics of climate adaptation, which I illustrate using grounded theory in the case of the 400-year old zangjera irrigation societies in Northern Philippines.
Abstract: Decentralization has often been prescribed as an institutional panacea for a wide range... more Abstract: Decentralization has often been prescribed as an institutional panacea for a wide range of problems facing developing countries. This study investigates the impacts of decentralization on the ability of individuals to solve collective action problems in a large-scale common pool resource.
Abstract Foreign aid plays an important role in developing countries but little is empirically kn... more Abstract Foreign aid plays an important role in developing countries but little is empirically known how it affects incentives of recipient bureaucracies. I provide a model and analytic case study to understand the strategic games that donors and bureaucrats play. My findings are broadly consistent with the theoretical expectations of institutional rational choice: bureaucrats attempt to ensure bureaucratic survival while donors ensure growth of loan portfolio. These findings, however, are not consistent with the
Anthropologists have speculated on a variety of reasons why ancient societies have collapsed over... more Anthropologists have speculated on a variety of reasons why ancient societies have collapsed overtime. Examples of these include the Eastern Island, Pitcairn Island, Henderson Island, the Anasazi, the Classic Lowland Maya and the Greenland Norse.
Abstract Public sector monopolies are often associated with inefficiencies and inability to meet ... more Abstract Public sector monopolies are often associated with inefficiencies and inability to meet rising demand. Scholars attribute this to fundamental problems associated with public provision: i) a tradition of below cost pricing due to populist pressures; ii) ownerregulator conflicts of interest and iii) perverse organizational incentives arising from noncredible threat of bankruptcy, weak competition, rigidities and agency and performance measurement problems.
At least 25 developing countries are embarking on irrigation governance reforms to address the pe... more At least 25 developing countries are embarking on irrigation governance reforms to address the persistent problem of poor irrigation performance. Some scholars suggest that the patterns of construction, deterioration, rehabilitation, and modernization commonly found among irrigation agencies in these countries are rational because of the time inconsistency problem of information.
Is foreign aid compatible with good governance? Using the case of irrigation aid in the Philippin... more Is foreign aid compatible with good governance? Using the case of irrigation aid in the Philippines, I hypothesise that aid is embedded in a perverse set of incentives which could undermine the application of good governance principles espoused by donors. My findings suggest that the problems of “moral hazard” and aid fungibility are embedded in irrigation aid. Furthermore, these incentives also drive a vicious cycle in irrigation commonly found in many developing countries. These findings indeed suggest that incentives structured into the relationship between donors and irrigation agencies may undermine the application of some principles of good governance espoused by donors.
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