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Does Water Efficiency Reduce Water Consumption? The Economy-Wide Water Rebound Effect

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  • Jaume Freire-González

    (ENT Foundation)

Abstract

Governments stimulate efficiency measures to save water resources, particularly in areas with high water stress and those that experience droughts. However, economic theory and some empirical studies tell us that the effects of efficiency improvements of a resource may not lead to a global reduction in the use of that resource. We assess the effects of improving water resources productivity in Spain on the global use of water using a dynamic water-economy computable general equilibrium model. We set an overall annual improvement of water efficiency of 50% and find that the economy-wide water rebound effect is 100.47%. This means that there are no savings of water after an efficiency improvement, and there is actually a slight global increase in water use.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaume Freire-González, 2019. "Does Water Efficiency Reduce Water Consumption? The Economy-Wide Water Rebound Effect," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 33(6), pages 2191-2202, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:33:y:2019:i:6:d:10.1007_s11269-019-02249-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-019-02249-0
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    Cited by:

    1. Xu, Hang & Yang, Rui, 2022. "Does agricultural water conservation policy necessarily reduce agricultural water extraction? Evidence from China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    2. Qian Chen & Jaume Freire González & Donglan Zha, 2023. "The Gap between Expectations and Reality: Assessing the Water Rebound Effect in Chinese Agriculture," Working Papers 1415, Barcelona School of Economics.
    3. Fei, Rilong & Xie, Mengyuan & Wei, Xin & Ma, Ding, 2021. "Has the water rights system reform restrained the water rebound effect? Empirical analysis from China's agricultural sector," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    4. Sheng, Jichuan & Qiu, Wenge, 2022. "Water-use technical efficiency and income: Evidence from China's South-North Water Transfer Project," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).

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