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Resistance to the Regulation of Common Resources in Rural Tunisia

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  • Xiaoying Liu
  • Mare Sarr
  • Timothy Swanson

    (School of Economics, University of Cape Town, South Africa)

Abstract

We examine the effect of the introduction of uniform water-charging for aquifer management and provide evidence using a survey-based choice experiment of agricultural water users in rural Tunisia. Theoretically, we show that the implementation of the proposed second-best regulation would result both in efficiency gains and in distributional effects in favour of small landholders. Empirically, we find that resistance to the introduction of an effective water-charging regime is greatest amongst the largest landholders. Resistance to the regulation of common resources may be rooted in the manner in which heterogeneity might determine the distributional impact of different management regimes.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaoying Liu & Mare Sarr & Timothy Swanson, 2014. "Resistance to the Regulation of Common Resources in Rural Tunisia," CIES Research Paper series 30-2014, Centre for International Environmental Studies, The Graduate Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:gii:ciesrp:cies_rp_30
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L98 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Government Policy
    • Q2 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation
    • Q25 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Water

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