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Water productivity and water footprints are not helpful in determining optimal water allocations or efficient management strategies

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  • Dennis Wichelns

Abstract

In a recent paper in Water International , Amarasinghe and Smakhtin suggest that crop-water production functions provide conceptual support for using water productivity and water footprints to guide water allocation and to determine optimal management strategies. Their analysis is thoughtful and interesting. Yet, there is no conceptual foundation supporting the use of water productivity or water footprints in an optimizing context. Production functions do not provide conceptual support. Policy makers wishing to achieve the optimal allocation of water must consider incremental gains and costs, including opportunity costs and externalities. Ratios depicting average output or average value do not contain sufficient information for determining optimal water allocations or efficient management strategies.

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  • Dennis Wichelns, 2015. "Water productivity and water footprints are not helpful in determining optimal water allocations or efficient management strategies," Water International, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(7), pages 1059-1070, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rwinxx:v:40:y:2015:i:7:p:1059-1070
    DOI: 10.1080/02508060.2015.1086255
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    2. Sun, J.X. & Yin, Y.L. & Sun, S.K. & Wang, Y.B. & Yu, X. & Yan, K., 2021. "Review on research status of virtual water: The perspective of accounting methods, impact assessment and limitations," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    3. Dale Whittington & Duncan A. Thomas, 2019. "Policy Note: “Invited Opinion Interview with Professor Tony Allan: “Water Scarcity, Food Production, and Virtual Water” (Part 1)”," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 6(01), pages 1-14, August.

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