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The California Water Project: Is Public Decision Making Becoming More Efficient?
Author(s) -
Brown Gardner
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr004i003p00463
Subject(s) - scarcity , investment (military) , state (computer science) , government (linguistics) , water scarcity , value (mathematics) , economics , desalination , resource (disambiguation) , environmental economics , public policy , natural resource economics , present value , business , water resources , microeconomics , finance , computer science , political science , economic growth , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , genetics , computer network , algorithm , machine learning , membrane , politics , law , biology
It is argued that the use of an incorrect discount rate, the application of procedures that overestimate net benefits, and the failure to charge a scarcity price for water are inappropriate arguments against the value of the California State Water Project. However, the existence of alternative public investment opportunities and technological progress in desalination are two factors to which the State may have given inadequate attention. As a consequence, although the State's water pricing policy encourages more efficient resource allocation than that of the federal government, there are plausible grounds for believing that further improvement is possible.