Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: Negotiation over Water Quality: Evidence from Brazilian Water Basin Committees

设计有效的水管理机制是减少跨管辖边界的污染外部性的一个关键组成部分。水权和水管理是地方、国家和国际各级的一个重要问题。跨界污染外溢造成了从约旦河流域到科罗拉多河的用户群体之间的政治困难。加强水资源管理可以提高当地居民的生活质量，减少跨界冲突。水流域委员会是环境保护主义者普遍提倡的一种改善水资源管理的方法。 本博士论文项目利用巴西分散式水资源管理的独特结构来评估流域委员会的影响，并研究提高或降低其有效性的政治机制。本文使用超过40,000水质观测从2000水质监测站在巴西估计的影响，112个流域委员会，这是在1990年和2007年之间创建了对巴西的水质管理？更广泛的影响：开发新的管理工具可以改善资源方面的跨辖区合作，并提高依赖资源的当地居民的生活质量。 该项目的另一个影响是提供一个大型数据库，可用于研究发展中国家水质、用水、跨管辖区谈判和水污染对健康的影响等其他问题。

The design of effective mechanisms for water management is a key component of reducing pollution externalities across jurisdictional boundaries. Water rights and management are an important issue at the local, national and international levels. Cross border pollution spillovers have created political difficulties between user groups from the Jordan River basin to the Colorado River. Enhanced water management improves the quality of life of local populations and reduces cross-border conflicts. Water basin committees are commonly advocated by environmentalists as a method of improving the management of water resources. This doctoral dissertation project takes advantage of the unique structure of decentralized water management in Brazil to estimate the effects of water basin committees and examine political mechanisms which enhance or reduce their effectiveness. This paper uses over 40,000 water quality observations from 2000 water quality monitoring stations across Brazil to estimate the effect that the 112 water basin committees which were created between 1990 and 2007 have had on the management of water quality in Brazil?s rivers.Broader Impacts: Development of new management tools can improve cross-jurisdictional cooperation over resources and improve the quality of life of the local populations who depend on the resources. An additional impact of this project will be to make available a large database which can be used to study additional questions on water quality, water use, cross-jurisdictional bargaining, and the health effects of water pollution in a developing country setting.