Comparative Water Law, Policies and Administration in Asia: Evidence from 17 Countries

Water Resources Research. DOI: 10.1002/wrcr.20414

Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Research Paper No. 13-18 IWP

35 Pages Posted: 10 Oct 2013

See all articles by Eduardo Araral

Eduardo Araral

National University of Singapore

David Yu

Arizona State University (ASU)

Date Written: October 10, 2013

Abstract

Conventional wisdom suggests that improving water governance is the key to solving water insecurity in developing countries but there are also many disagreements on operational and methodological issues. In this paper, we build on the work of Saleth and Dinar and surveyed 100 water experts from 17 countries in Asia to compare 19 indicators of water laws, policies and administration among and within countries from 2001 to 2010. We present the results of our study in a comparative dashboard and report how water governance indicators vary with a country’s economic development, which ones do not and how and why some indicators change overtime in some countries. We have two main results. First, our initial findings suggest the possibility of water Kuznets curve i.e. certain water governance indicators vary with a country’s level of economic development. However, more studies are needed given the caveats and limitations of our study. Second, the results have practical value for policy makers and researchers for benchmarking with other countries and tracking changes within their countries overtime. We conclude with implications for a second-generation research agenda on water governance.

Keywords: Comparative Water Law, Policies and Administration, Asia

JEL Classification: C20, P117, F1, C9, P95, C2, P8, C5, P16

Suggested Citation

Araral, Eduardo and Yu, David, Comparative Water Law, Policies and Administration in Asia: Evidence from 17 Countries (October 10, 2013). Water Resources Research. DOI: 10.1002/wrcr.20414, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Research Paper No. 13-18 IWP, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2338374

Eduardo Araral (Contact Author)

National University of Singapore ( email )

469C bukit timah road Singapore
Singapore, 12259772
Singapore

David Yu

Arizona State University (ASU) ( email )

Farmer Building 440G PO Box 872011
Tempe, AZ 85287
United States

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