Modern irrigation technologies have been suggested as a means of conserving scarce water and reducing environmental pollution caused by irrigated agriculture. This paper applies an economic model of technology selection that provides a general framework to analyzing adoption of irrigation...

"The chapter highlights the structure of the book, explains its approach and summarizes its main message. Increased water scarcity intensifies the tradeoffs inherent in allocating water to competing uses and turns the policy challenge of managing water resources ever more crucial. The book...

"Agriculture has been critical in the development of the American economy. Except in parts of the western United States, water access has not been a critical constraint on agricultural productivity, but with climate change, this may no longer be the case. This volume highlights new research on...

1. Water challenge : an institutional diagnosis -- 2. Understanding institutions : nature, performance, and change -- 3. Existing literature : approaches, attempts, and limitations -- 4. Evaluating institutional linkages : towards an alternative methodology -- 5. Analytical framework and...