Water scarcity and agricultural growth in Spain: from curse to blessing?

This working paper discusses how natural resource scarcity (aridity, in the case of Spanish agriculture) encouraged the process of frontier expansion defined by Barbier, meaning the exploitation of new, relatively abundant resources (water) for production purposes. Water for irrigated agriculture was obtained from both ground sources, identified as 'vertically downward' sources (i.e. wells, which were mainly funded by private initiative), and 'horizontally extensive' surface sources, such as dams and canals, primarily paid for by the public sector. Although the processes involved in obtaining water can be traced back over the centuries, it was really not until the 20thcentury when they became truly important. The growthof agricultural production was deeply influenced by this process. The main result is the mismatch between areas of high current agricultural productivity, and better initial endowment of natural resources.