Economics Commons^™

Roads And Resources: Groundwater Depletion In Lankao Country In The North China Plains, Ujjayant N. Chakravorty, Xiangzheng Deng, Yazhen Gong, Martino Pelli, Zhang Qian

Ujjayant Chakravorty

China produces most of its food grains in the North China Plains. However, there is evidence that groundwater aquifers in this region are being overexploited. We use a unique GIS-referenced dataset of the depth of the water table for all the 12,000 odd tube wells in Lankao county. We find that the construction of new highways has led to a depletion of the water table in wells close to the highways. This relationship is robust to a variety of controls, including distance to river and primary canals, village and township fixed effects, the date of drilling of the well and …

The Economics Of Horizontal Government Cooperation (Working Paper), Matthew R. Dalsanto Ph.D.

Matthew R. DalSanto, Ph.D.

This paper analyzes the ability of intrastate and interstate cooperative agreements to either minimize or capitalize on interjurisdictional externalities. These agreements are commonly referred to as compacts or joint powers agreements (intrastate compacts). The compact mechanism allows regional governments to enter into contractual agreements with one another to coordinate policy choices and to engage in cooperative endeavors. Given the inter-jurisdictional nature of the issues that affect horizontally situated governments, this mechanism is a powerful tool to achieve welfare-enhancing outcomes for citizens.

A review of the legal case law surrounding compacts is conducted to analyze the legal properties from an economic …

Postal Economics In Developing Countries: Posts, Infrastructure Of The 21st Century?, Jose Anson, Joelle Toledano, Laia Bosch, Justin Caron

Jose Anson, PhD

This book analyzes the challenges faced by the postal infrastructure in many developing countries at the dawn of the 21st century. On the one hand, market fragmentation, lack of regulatory framework, wrong pricing strategies and bureaucracy in a "just-in-time" world constitute the major hurdles to the development of economically viable and sustainable postal networks. On the other hand, the capillarity of these networks has shown a real comparative advantage in achieving financial inclusion of the less better-off, or facilitating access to export markets for micro, small and medium-size enterprises. The book provides advanced analysis in these areas, and concludes with …

Connecting The Unconnected In Sub-Saharan Africa: Postal Networks Can Leverage Access To Infrastructure Services, Jose Anson

Jose Anson, PhD

With more than 80% of post offices in Sub-Saharan Africa located in small- and medium-sized cities and rural areas, a well-managed postal network, in strong partnership with other providers of infrastructure and network services, could establish itself as a critical link that binds all other networks together, and helps move the "unconnected" out of the poverty trap.