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Does the Median Voter Consume Too Much Water? Analyzing the Redistributive Role of Residential Water Bills

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  • Timmins, Christopher

Abstract

According to allocative efficiency criteria, water in the American West is often underpriced in urban sales. The political-economic process that motivates municipal managers to impose the resulting deadweight losses on their constituencies is analyzed with a median voter model of choice between alternative municipal revenue sources. The implications of this model are tested empirically, and the results confirm the conclusions of previous empirical research by suggesting that cities with more skewed income distributions tend to engage in more redistributive activities than other conditionally similar communities.

Suggested Citation

  • Timmins, Christopher, 2002. "Does the Median Voter Consume Too Much Water? Analyzing the Redistributive Role of Residential Water Bills," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 55(4), pages 687-702, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:ntj:journl:v:55:y:2002:i:4:p:687-702
    DOI: 10.17310/ntj.2002.4.02
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    Cited by:

    1. Wietelman, Derek & Wichman, Casey & Brent, Daniel A., 2025. "Conservation and Distributional Consequences of Pricing Scarce Water During Droughts," RFF Working Paper Series 25-07, Resources for the Future.
    2. Filomena Garcia & Jose Manuel Paz y Miño & Gustavo Torrens, 2024. "Nationalistic bias in collusion prosecution: the case for international antitrust agreements," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 126(3), pages 489-528, July.
    3. Felgendreher, Simon & Lehmann, Paul, 2012. "The political economy of the peruvian urban water sector," UFZ Discussion Papers 18/2012, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    4. Ellen Hanak, 2008. "Is Water Policy Limiting Residential Growth? Evidence from California," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 84(1), pages 31-50.
    5. Wichman, Casey, 2024. "Efficiency, Equity, and Cost-Recovery Trade-Offs in Municipal Water Pricing," RFF Working Paper Series 24-18, Resources for the Future.

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