Empirical studies have established that franchise extension has positive effects on long-run growth because democratisation leads to greater equality of access to resources. However, in the short-run franchise may lead to a redistribution of resources away from important sectors of an economy....

This paper analyses whether the evolution of water law in the Australian colony of New South Wales (NSW) contradicts theoretical models that suggest in arid countries correlative, land based water rights will be replaced with individual ownership. Evidence from NSW shows a series of Supreme...

This paper analyses the transition of water rights institutions in Victoria, Australia, between 1840 and 1886. It will focus on the shift from the common law doctrine of riparian rights to government control of water supplies via quasi-government organisations known as irrigation trusts...

This paper will analyse the operation of the British common law of riparian rights in the Riverina District of New South Wales (NSW), Australia between 1850 and 1870.* Theorists argue that the predisposition of people to fight over or cooperate to exploit valuable resources depends on how well...

The adoption of a hybrid approach to water rights known as the California doctrine in some western states of the United States (US) and Australia creates some doubt as to what factors drive scarcity and the evolution of property rights to water. In previous studies commentators have argued that...

This paper formulates a demand model for residential water in Sri Lanka using the Stone-Geary functional form. This functional form has two main advantages when compared with Cobb-Douglas: non-constant price elasticities and; it considers water consumption as two components – a fixed and a...