Go to main navigation Navigation menu Skip navigation Home page Search

Brown bag seminar | Adaptation to surface water scarcity in irrigated agriculture

What are the economic impacts of environmental change and water scarcity? Researcher Nick Hagerty provide evidence on this question by studying surface water and compare the long-run and short-run effects of water scarcity on agriculture. Join the online seminar to learn more!

Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) cordially invites you to join the online brown bag seminar with Nick Hagerty presenting a working paper titled`Adaptation to Surface Water Scarcity in Irrigated Agriculture´.

Adaptation to surface water scarcity in irrigated agriculture

Abstract

How much do societies adapt to environmental change? I provide evidence on this question by studying surface water, a resource that is projected to become scarcer in much of the world yet is critical to sectors such as irrigated agriculture. To identify adaptation, I compare the long-run and short-run effects of water scarcity on agriculture, which I estimate using institutional variation in water allocation in California. First, I estimate long-run effects using spatial discontinuities in average water supplies at the borders between neighboring water utilities, where farmland is otherwise similar. Then, I estimate short-run effects using weather-driven fluctuations in water supplies from year to year. Using high-resolution satellite data on land use, I find that surface water scarcity reduces crop area and crop revenue (as predicted by crop choices) in both the short run and the long run. Differing crop substitution patterns imply that farmers adapt over the long run, but adaptation does not mitigate the impacts of water scarcity on agricultural output. Absent new investments or policy changes, projected declines in surface water supplies are likely to notably reduce the land area and output of agriculture.

About the speaker

Nick Hagerty is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics at Montana State University.

Nick research studies the role of natural resources in how societies around the world cope with environmental change, and how policy design can help people better adapt. Many of his specific projects focus on water and agriculture in the western United States and in India.

Learn more about Nick's research projects >>

 

Interested in joining the online seminar?

The link to the seminar will be distrubted by invitation only. If you are interested to attend the seminar - please contact site@hhs.se. Follow the instructions below:

  • Type the subject box with "Brown bag seminar *INSERT SEMINAR TITLE*"
  • Describe in short who you are and why you want to join.

If you have followed the instructions accordingly, we will send you the Zoom-link via email with further instructions!

SOCIAL MEDIA

Follow us on social media to get the latest updates from SITE

  

SITE Climate Natural resources Sustainability Economics Brown bag