文章基本信息

标题：DROUGHT, STRIFE, AND INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE
本地全文：下载
作者：Howitt, Richard E.
期刊名称：Western Economics Forum
出版年度：2002
卷号：1
期号：2
出版社：Western Acricultural Economics Association
摘要：Crises in the supply of natural resources are often stimulants for beneficial change in the institutions. In a recent paper on the evolution of federal and state water policy in the West, Getches (2001) concludes that "It takes a crisis" to initiate water policy reform in the West. Currently, many western states are in the grips of very severe drought. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather statistics show that in the past year, two states ( Arizona and Colorado) suffered a rainfall that is the lowest ever recorded. Five neighboring states (Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming, Kansas and Nebraska) are equal to, or lower than, the lowest 10% ever recorded. This drought, coupled with an unprecedented total demand for water clearly constitutes a crisis. However, it is unlikely that the current western drought will result in beneficial change to western water institutions. In what follows we discuss the reasons why some crises are useful stimulants, but also why the current drought will probably not stimulate useful change and merely increase the level of strife among western water users.