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Talk is cheap, or is it? The cost of consulting about uncertain reallocation of water in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia

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  • Crase, Lin
  • O'Keefe, Sue
  • Dollery, Brian

Abstract

In this paper we reflect on the challenge of reallocating water resources from agricultural interests to environmental uses. The area of interest is the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia, although the evidence presented provides salient lessons for a range of settings. We draw on the transaction cost literature where the tasks of re-designing and using institutions can help conceptualise the costs associated with policy change. A framework for improving ex ante assessment of transaction costs and its relationship to transformation or abatement costs is elaborated, especially as it relates to community consultation exercises. Against the background of the water reforms of the past three decades we conclude that policy makers and administrators could limit increases in transformation costs and contain transaction costs by giving greater attention to the form of community consultation, by taking account of the sources of uncertainty that attend policy choices and recognising the potential for consultation fatigue.

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  • Crase, Lin & O'Keefe, Sue & Dollery, Brian, 2013. "Talk is cheap, or is it? The cost of consulting about uncertain reallocation of water in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 206-213.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:88:y:2013:i:c:p:206-213
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.12.015
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. McCann, Laura & Colby, Bonnie & Easter, K. William & Kasterine, Alexander & Kuperan, K.V., 2005. "Transaction cost measurement for evaluating environmental policies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(4), pages 527-542, March.
    2. R. H. Coase, 2013. "The Problem of Social Cost," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(4), pages 837-877.
    3. Marshall, Graham R., 2013. "Transaction Costs, Collective Action And Adaptation In Managing Social-Ecological Systems," 2013 Conference (57th), February 5-8, 2013, Sydney, Australia 152166, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    4. Lin Crase & Sue O’Keefe & Brian Dollery, 2011. "Some Observations about the Reactionary Rhetoric Circumscribing the Guide to the Murray–Darling Basin Plan," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 30(2), pages 195-207, June.
    5. Marshall, Graham R., 2013. "Transaction costs, collective action and adaptation in managing complex social–ecological systems," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 185-194.
    6. Pannell, David J. & Roberts, Anna M. & Park, Geoff & Alexander, Jennifer, 2013. "Improving environmental decisions: A transaction-costs story," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 244-252.
    7. Ray Challen, 2000. "Institutions, Transaction Costs and Environmental Policy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1961.
    8. Lin Crase & Brian Dollery & Sue O’Keefe, 2011. "Managing Environmental Water: Lessons in Crafting Efficient Governance Arrangements," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 30(2), pages 122-134, June.
    9. Marshall, Graham R. & Wall, Lisa M. & Jones, Randall E., 1993. "The Role of Economists in Land and Water Management," 1993 Conference (37th), February 9-11, 1993, Sydney, Australia 147733, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    10. Garrick, Dustin & Whitten, Stuart M. & Coggan, Anthea, 2013. "Understanding the evolution and performance of water markets and allocation policy: A transaction costs analysis framework," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 195-205.
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    Cited by:

    1. McCann, Laura, 2013. "Transaction costs and environmental policy design," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 253-262.
    2. Pérez-Blanco, C.D. & Gutiérrez-Martín, C., 2017. "Buy me a river: Use of multi-attribute non-linear utility functions to address overcompensation in agricultural water buyback," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 6-20.
    3. Cooper, Bethany & Crase, Lin & Pawsey, Nicholas, 2014. "Best practice pricing principles and the politics of water pricing," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 92-97.
    4. Wheeler, Sarah Ann & Zuo, Alec & Loch, Adam, 2015. "Watering the farm: Comparing organic and conventional irrigation water use in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 78-85.
    5. Pannell, David J. & Roberts, Anna M. & Park, Geoff & Alexander, Jennifer, 2013. "Improving environmental decisions: A transaction-costs story," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 244-252.
    6. Graham R. Marshall, 2020. "Evaluating Adaptive Efficiency in Environmental Water Recovery: Application of a Framework for Institutional Cost-Effectiveness Analysis," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 6(02), pages 1-28, April.
    7. Garrick, Dustin & Whitten, Stuart M. & Coggan, Anthea, 2013. "Understanding the evolution and performance of water markets and allocation policy: A transaction costs analysis framework," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 195-205.
    8. Deng, Xiaohong & Xu, Zhongmin & Song, Xiaoyu & Zhou, Jian, 2017. "Transaction costs associated with agricultural water trading in the Heihe River Basin, Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 29-39.
    9. Krutilla, Kerry & Alexeev, Alexander, 2014. "The Political Transaction Costs and Uncertainties of Establishing Environmental Rights," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 299-309.
    10. Shahab, Sina & Clinch, J. Peter & O’Neill, Eoin, 2018. "Accounting for transaction costs in planning policy evaluation," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 263-272.
    11. Carlos Mario Gómez Gómez & C. D. Pérez-Blanco & David Adamson & Adam Loch, 2018. "Managing Water Scarcity at a River Basin Scale with Economic Instruments," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(01), pages 1-31, January.
    12. Marshall, Graham R., 2013. "Transaction costs, collective action and adaptation in managing complex social–ecological systems," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 185-194.
    13. Zachary Bischoff-Mattson & Amanda H. Lynch, 2016. "Adaptive governance in water reform discourses of the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 49(3), pages 281-307, September.

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