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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. Erik Ansink & Hans-Peter Weikard, 2012. "Sequential sharing rules for river sharing problems," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 38(2), pages 187-210, February.
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    5. van den Brink, René & van der Laan, Gerard & Moes, Nigel, 2012. "Fair agreements for sharing international rivers with multiple springs and externalities," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 388-403.
    6. 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.
    7. Kilgour, D. Marc & Dinar, Ariel, 1995. "Are stable agreements for sharing international river waters now possible?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1474, The World Bank.
    8. Baomin Dong & Debing Ni & Yuntong Wang, 2012. "Sharing a Polluted River Network," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 53(3), pages 367-387, November.
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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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