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Cost‐reflective pricing: empirical insights into irrigators’ preferences for water tariffs
Author(s) -
Cooper Bethany,
Crase Lin,
Rose John M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
australian journal of agricultural and resource economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.683
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-8489
pISSN - 1364-985X
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8489.12242
Subject(s) - subsidy , tariff , water pricing , economics , empirical evidence , public economics , irrigation , politics , empirical research , business , natural resource economics , water conservation , international economics , market economy , ecology , philosophy , epistemology , political science , law , biology
Using prices to improve the efficiency with which water resources are allocated is now widely accepted in principle if somewhat difficult to achieve in practice. Whilst there are some technical difficulties associated with full‐cost recovery in irrigation, the lack of political will to tackle reform remains a significant impediment. This article reports the results of an empirical investigation into farmers’ preferences for changes to water prices and tariff structures. We conclude that some of the preferences of farmers are conducive to price reform. We also find evidence that public subsidy of infrastructure in irrigation is not always aligned with the preferences of farmers.