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Peaceful Agreements to Share a River

Author

Listed:
  • Rene van den Brink

    (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

  • Saish Nevrekar

    (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid)

Abstract

This paper develops a model of conflict resolution over scarce water in a trans-boundary river. In our model, we consider countries that are located along a river and made a military investment. Given these investments and their location along the river, they sequentially bargain over the surplus of water, or decide to engage in a military conflict with their upstream neighbour. The probability of winning a military conflict is determined by a contest success function which depends on the military investments made before. We speak about a peaceful agreement if the countries rationally decide to bargain over the water instead of engaging into a military conflict. We show that, if all benefit functions are nonnegative, increasing and concave, then for every level of military investment, there always exists a peaceful agreement where every country prefers to bargain peacefully for the water. We provide a scenario that yields one such a peaceful agreement.

Suggested Citation

  • Rene van den Brink & Saish Nevrekar, 2020. "Peaceful Agreements to Share a River," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-016/II, Tinbergen Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20200016
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alcalde-Unzu, Jorge & Gómez-Rúa, María & Molis, Elena, 2015. "Sharing the costs of cleaning a river: the Upstream Responsibility rule," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 134-150.
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    7. Sylvain Beal & Amandine Ghintran & Eric Remila & Philippe Solal, 2013. "The River Sharing Problem: A Survey," International Game Theory Review (IGTR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 15(03), pages 1-19.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    River sharing; peaceful agreement; contest success function; subgame perfect equilibrium;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • Q25 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Water

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