Institute of Water Policy Staff Papers 2011

Three Decades of Water Related Research Published in Economics and Development Journals: A Selective Review

21 Three฀Decades฀of฀Water฀Related฀Research฀ Published฀in฀Economics฀and฀Development฀ Journals:฀A฀Selective฀Review Ngo฀Quang฀Vinh฀and฀Bhanoji฀Rao* The฀ phrase฀ “looming฀ water฀ crisis”฀ is฀ now฀ publicized฀ in฀ the฀ media฀ relatively฀more฀often฀than฀a฀few฀decades฀ago.฀How฀much฀attention฀ has฀ the฀ economics฀ profession฀ in฀ general฀ and฀ development฀ economics฀ profession฀in฀particular฀paid฀to฀this฀issue?฀To฀get฀some฀insight฀into฀this,฀ a฀ number฀ of฀ economics฀ and฀ development฀ journals฀ published฀ during฀ 1980–2010฀are฀searched฀for฀water-related฀papers.฀It฀was฀found฀that฀ the฀number฀of฀papers฀covering฀water฀issues฀in฀these฀journals฀is฀really฀ limited.฀ Except฀ for฀ World฀ Development,฀ others฀ published฀ less฀ than฀ ฀ 10฀water-related฀papers฀in฀30฀years,฀and฀some฀published฀none. Based฀on฀the฀absolute฀number฀of฀papers฀published฀concerning฀ water฀issues,฀the฀following฀journals฀and฀the฀water฀related฀articles฀ in฀them฀are฀selected฀for฀review:฀World฀Development,฀Contemporary฀ Economic฀Policy฀and฀Applied฀Economics.฀ 1.฀ Introduction Given฀ the฀ criticality฀ of฀ water฀ for฀ economic,฀ social฀ and฀ human฀ development,฀ one฀ would฀ have฀ taken฀ for฀ granted฀ that฀ economics฀ and฀ development฀ journals฀ pay฀ sufficient฀ attention฀ to฀ the฀ subject฀ of฀ water.฀ But฀ what฀ is฀ the฀ ground฀ reality?฀ To฀ answer฀ the฀ question,฀ this฀ paper฀ first฀takes฀stock฀of฀how฀much฀attention฀water฀has฀received฀in฀selected฀ economics฀and฀development฀journals,฀and฀then฀reviews฀the฀main฀themes฀ in฀a฀sub-set฀of฀the฀selected฀journals.฀ *฀ The฀authors฀are฀respectively฀Research฀Associate,฀Institute฀of฀Water฀Policy฀ and฀Visiting฀Professor,฀Lee฀Kuan฀Yew฀School฀of฀Public฀Policy. 02 IWP Ngo.indd 21 6/6/11 11:36:31 AM Ngo฀Quang฀Vinh฀and฀Bhanoji฀Rao 22 The฀ remainder฀ of฀ the฀ paper฀ is฀ organized฀ as฀ follows.฀ Section฀ 2฀ ฀ provides฀ a฀ broad฀ overview฀ of฀ water-related฀ papers฀ in฀ selected฀ economics ฀ and฀ development฀ journals.฀ Section฀ 3฀ presents฀ a฀ quantitative฀ survey฀ of฀ papers฀ in฀ three฀ specific฀ journals:฀ World฀ Development฀ (WD),฀ ฀ Contemporary฀Economic฀Policy฀(CEP)฀and฀Applied฀Economics฀(AE).฀Section฀ 4฀ has฀ review฀ of฀ the฀ papers฀ in฀ the฀ three฀ journals฀ and฀ key฀ findings.฀ Section฀5฀has฀a฀few฀concluding฀observations. 2.฀ Overview฀of฀Water-related฀Publications฀in฀ Selected฀Journals,฀1980–2010฀ From฀the฀ranking฀list฀of฀68฀economics฀journals1 ฀and฀25฀development฀ studies฀ journals,2 ฀ nine฀ and฀ seven฀ respectively฀ are฀ chosen฀ including฀ those฀at฀the฀top฀and฀at฀the฀bottom฀ranks.฀The฀list฀of฀selected฀journals฀ and฀ the฀ number฀ of฀ water฀ related฀ papers฀ are฀ given฀ in฀ Table฀ 1.฀ The฀ ฀ top฀economics฀journals฀have฀not฀much฀to฀read฀on฀water฀related฀issues,฀ it฀ is฀ the฀ lower฀ rank฀ ones฀ that฀ had฀ carried฀ a฀ relatively฀ large฀ number฀ of฀papers.฀ Table฀1 Water-related฀Papers฀in฀Economics฀and฀Development฀Studies฀Journals,฀ 1980–2010 Journals Rank No.฀of฀papers฀on฀ water฀related฀topics Economics 1.฀ Quarterly฀Journal฀of฀Economics ฀ 1 ฀ 3 2.฀ Journal฀of฀Political฀Economy ฀ 2 ฀ 1 3.฀ American฀Economic฀Review ฀ 4 ฀ 5 4.฀ Economic฀Journal ฀ 9 ฀ 1 5.฀ International฀Economic฀Review 11 ฀ 0 6.฀ Economic฀History฀review 65 ฀ 2 1 ฀ See฀Engemann฀and฀Wall฀(2009). 2 ฀ See฀ . 02 IWP Ngo.indd 22 6/6/11 11:36:31 AM Three฀Decades฀of฀Water฀Related฀Research 23 As฀one฀could฀expect,฀the฀top฀development฀journal,฀World฀Development ,฀ carries฀ the฀ maximum฀ (absolute)฀ number฀ of฀ papers฀ concerning฀ water฀issues.฀The฀miniscule฀numbers฀of฀water-related฀papers฀in฀all฀other฀ development฀journals฀is฀rather฀surprising฀and฀is฀against฀expectations.฀ 3.฀ Water-related฀Papers฀in฀the฀Three฀Selected฀ Journals World฀ Development฀ (WD),฀ Contemporary฀ Economic฀ Policy฀ (CEP)฀ and฀ Applied฀Economics฀(AE)฀carried฀the฀maximum฀number฀of฀papers.฀These฀ are฀the฀focus฀in฀the฀rest฀of฀the฀paper.฀The฀17฀papers฀in฀AE฀and฀CEP,฀ mostly฀ empirical฀ in฀ nature,฀ can฀ be฀ categorized฀ into฀ Efficiency฀ and฀ Management฀ (7฀ papers),฀ Production฀ Cost,฀ Demand฀ and฀ Supply฀ (7)฀ and฀Water฀Quality฀(2).3 ฀The฀27฀papers฀in฀WD฀(see฀Annex฀for฀details)฀ ฀ fall฀into฀Partnership฀and฀Management฀(13฀papers),฀Water฀and฀Development ฀(9),฀Pricing฀and฀Demand฀(4)฀and฀Statistics/Indicators฀(1).฀ 7.฀ Annals฀of฀Regional฀Science 66 ฀ 4 8.฀ Contemporary฀Economic฀Policy 67 ฀ 7 9.฀ Applied฀Economics 68 10 Total ฀ 33 Development฀Studies 1.฀ World฀Development ฀ 1 27 2.฀ Journal฀of฀Development฀Studies ฀ 2 ฀ 3 3.฀ Oxford฀Development฀Studies ฀ 3 ฀ 3 4.฀ Development฀Policy฀Review ฀ 4 ฀ 2 5.฀ Canadian฀Journal฀of฀Development฀Studies 21 ฀ 4 6.฀ Forum฀for฀Development฀Studies 24 ฀ 1 7.฀ Journal฀of฀Third฀World฀Studies 25 ฀ 0 Total ฀ 40 3 ฀ One฀paper฀in฀CEP฀is฀not฀counted฀as฀it฀is฀a฀note฀from฀an฀author฀about฀his฀ own฀paper฀which฀is฀among...