Is there evidence of insider trading in Australian water markets?

Insider trading is a much studied form of market manipulation in the financial market literature. However, studies addressing the issue of insider trading in resource markets, and in particular water markets, are rare. This study investigates the occurrence of insider trading practices around important water market allocation announcements in the Goulburn temporary water market trading zone in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia, which is one of the largest and longest operating water market districts in the world. Nine years of daily water allocation volume and price transactions between 2008 and 2017 are modelled, with some evidence found of abnormal price movements in the 3 or 5 days preceding water allocation announcements, and especially before the introduction of insider trading rules in 2014. However, although the results do suggest some very weak statistically significant evidence that insider trading may still be present in Goulburn water markets post‐2014, it is just as feasible that our results may also reflect an increased sophistication of trader behaviour over time.     

Declining inflows and more frequent droughts in the Murray–Darling Basin: climate change,impacts and adaptation*

It is likely that climate change will be associated with reductions in inflows of water to the Murray–Darling Basin. In this study, we analyse the effects of climate change in the Murray–Darling Basin using a simulation model that incorporates a state‐contingent representation of uncertainty. The severity of the impact depends, in large measure, on the extent to which climate change is manifested as an increase in the frequency of drought conditions. Adaptation will partially offset the adverse impact of climate change.     

Elicitation of irrigators' risk preferences from observed behaviour

Water trading in the Murray–Darling Basin of Australia has developed to the point where it is a common adaptation tool used by irrigators, making it an apt case study to elicit the marginal value of irrigation water and irrigators' risk preferences in two key industries with differing levels of water dependence. Our data come from large‐scale and representative surveys of irrigated broadacre and horticultural farms in the Murray–Darling Basin over a 6‐year period. The marginal contribution of irrigation water to profit is estimated at $547 and $61/ML on average in horticulture and broadacre, respectively. Horticultural irrigators are found to be averse to the risk of large losses (downside risk) while broadacre irrigators are averse to the variability (variance) of profit.     

以“水银行”模式探索创新太湖流域水资源配置手段的思考

太湖流域处于我国南方丰水地区,但水质型缺水及河湖生态环境状况不佳是长期面临的问题和挑战。当前流域水资源配置采用行政协调分配模式而非市场手段,需求侧为规划方案的预测需水,因此供给侧的水量也随之固定,且不随水价而改变,不利于提高水资源的利用效率。选取“水银行”模式探索流域水资源配置新手段,提出了以太湖等重要河湖为调配中心的“太湖水银行”模式初步设想,通过存水、贷水等业务体现水的真实价值和配置、保护、调度等综合成本,近期在总量控制的前提下通过交易付费约束用水需求,促进水的合理、高效使用,远期则提出了以奖优罚劣为准则促进太湖等重要河湖来水水质保障的总体构想。     

中国水贸易战略问题初探

综述水贸易概念产生的背景、水贸易现况和典型案例,从宏观和微观角度分析我国水贸易运行模式,认为我国在制定水资源战略时应充分考虑水贸易的作用,重视水贸易对水系统和社会经济系统的影响,并且应当适时、适当地开展水贸易。     

基于博弈论的城市水源地水资源分配模式和相关政策分析

应用博弈论的方法,探讨水源地、城市及用水者等相关利益主体在不同决策模式下的行为方式,分析了“用水者各自决策”“城市政府主导分配”“市场交易”和“政府调控下的市场配置”4种水源地水资源分配模式,认为“政府调控下的市场配置”是相对最优模式。探讨了跨境水源地权利保护机制、用水总量控制政策背景下的水源地水资源分配、水源地水权交易和生态补偿等相关政策问题,并提出相关政策建议。     

基于水资源需求侧管理的法规政策体系研究

为更加合理地配置和利用水资源,借鉴电力市场需求侧管理的经验,对我国水资源需求侧管理的法规政策体系进行研究。介绍了中国现行的水资源管理法规政策体系,从水资源需求侧管理角度分析了我国实施水资源需求侧管理存在的障碍,提出了从法律、行政法规、地方法规规章和政策各层面建立和完善我国水资源管理法规政策体系的整体方案。     

Assessing a Policy Grab Bag: Federal Water Policy Reform

This article examines the economic impacts of policy alternatives for addressing allocative inefficiencies among agricultural, urban, and environmental uses of federal water. The Central Valley Project Improvement Act, composed of multiple incentive–based and command–and–control policies, forms the context for this analysis. Estimated multi–output agricultural revenue functions and urban water demand functions are incorporated into a nonlinear programming model designed to predict changes in water use, returns to agriculture, and urban consumer surplus. Results suggest that analysis that does not explicitly model policy instruments implemented at sub–optimal levels and, as part of a package of reforms, could over– or underestimate the costs, benefits, and effectiveness of each policy instrument.     

Preface

The paper examines the main issues surrounding distributional effects in the domains of natural resource management and land policies, agricultural technology and research policies, agricultural market and trade policies, and consumer‐oriented policies, including standards, subsidies, and labeling. Agriculture is drifting into an ever more drastic bifurcation at a global level and within many countries. Correcting that bifurcation will require large investments in rural areas and rural people, in institutions, and in information and biological technologies accessible by the poor in the world's smallholder sector. Large and growing national and international inequalities related to agriculture and rural areas threaten peace, growth, and sustainable development.