Price elasticity of water allocations demand in the Goulburn–Murray Irrigation District*

Bid prices for the demand and supply of water allocations between 2001 and 2007, and average monthly prices paid for water allocations from 1997 to 2007 in the Goulburn–Murray Irrigation District are analysed to estimate price elasticities. Based on bid prices, the price elasticity of demand for water allocations appears highly elastic, with elasticities strongly influenced by the season and drought. The price elasticity of supply for water allocations is also elastic, albeit less elastic than demand. Using actual prices paid, water demand is negatively related to price and is inelastic, and appears to be most influenced by demand the previous month, drought and seasonality factors.     

Access to training and its impact on temporary workers

Does temporary work provide a way for individuals to improve their skill levels? Using a sample of more than 4,000 employees of US temporary staffing agencies, we analyse whether blue, white and pink‐collar temps get access to company training, and the impact of skill development on wages and employee retention. We find that less than 25 per cent of temps take part in training. Educated and experienced individuals are more likely to be offered training, but lower‐skilled individuals are more likely to take training when it is offered and spend more hours on it. Office workers who took part in training were more likely still to be with the agency a year later and experienced significant wage growth, while training had no effect on wage growth for blue‐collar workers. Skill development that took place on the job was associated with greater wage growth for all types of temps.     

California conservation Corps: An idea whose time has returned?

The author explains the origins of the California Conservation Corps in the USA. He outlines how, after shaky beginnings, the organization has been the subject of much comment and praise. The activities and achievements of the Californian Conservation Corps are underlined and there is an attempt to explain the factors behind its apparent success. This personal perspective analyses the motivation of the volunteers who constitute this disciplined workforce, faced often with very demanding tasks. Admitting that some factors, possibly unique to California, have favoured this programme, the author considers how adaptation of this approach might have a crucial role in conservation policies.     

Some evidence in defense of the vehicle currency hypothesis

The role of the dollar as a vehicle currency has been questioned by reference to patterns of trade invoicing. Here it is shown that a cross-section of country dollar holdings can be explained by reference to trade patterns.     

Willingness to accept compensation for land fallowing: results from a survey of village representatives in Northern China

Economic instruments have been increasingly adopted by governments around the world to address water scarcity problems because of their potential to achieve environmental outcomes in more cost‐effective ways. This is the first study to estimate the willingness to accept compensation for land fallowing in rural China. Using survey data collected from village representatives in Northern China (mainly village leaders, party secretaries and village accountants), our results suggest that in groundwater irrigated sample villages, at least 28 per cent of respondents have a compensation expectation lower than the standard level of 500 yuan/mu/year for one season of fallowing set by the Government. Water scarcity measures such as irrigation supply reliability and depth‐to‐groundwater within a village are found to have statistically significant effects on the likelihood of fallowing land in groundwater irrigated villages.     

How Much State?

Professor Alec Nove (right), of the University of Glasgow, takes issue with the three 'capitalist' critics of his articles in Economic Affairs, January-March 1985: Israel Kirzner, Tim Congdon and Patrick Minford.     

A Century of Scottish Economics

A review of the development of economics, and of university teaching and research in economics since the foundation of the Scottish Economic Society a century ago. Contrasts the Victorian world of do-it-yourself economics with no economic journals or societies and university teaching in the hands of the professor of moral philosophy with the current situation with 12 Scottish universities in place of 4 and a staff of over 240 in Scotland compared with a total of 30 in the United Kingdom in 1890. Economists have multiplied, new branches of the discipline have developed, the subject has been revolutionised.     

Who trades water allocations? Evidence of the characteristics of early adopters in the Goulburn–Murray Irrigation District,Australia 1998–1999**

This article applies a model of innovation to analyze the characteristics of irrigators within the Goulburn–Murray Irrigation District in Australia and examines the efficiency of the early water market in the late 1990s. Using multinominal and binary logit analyses we identify the factors associated with irrigators who sold or bought water allocations during 1998–1999 and irrigators who at that time had never participated in any kind of water trading. Contrary to expectations we find that early adopters of water trading were older farmers with low farm productivity, but that in line with theory they had higher levels of education, had spent less time farming, had larger irrigated area, farm operating surplus and farm assets, owned farms that were more intensively farmed, and were more progressive in their planning. There was only weak evidence to suggest that water moved from lower value uses to higher value uses, suggesting the water allocation market had limited efficiency in its’ initial years.