The Effect of Priority Date on Price of Temporary Water Rights Transfers

This research extends the analysis of De Mouche et al. (2011) and Colby et al. (1993) relating price differentials in per acre-foot terms to the priority date of water rights and hydrologic conditions using experimental economic data. This study investigates the effect that priority date, or the year the right was established, can have on the price of leases in the market for water rights and will expand on the existing literature by using an experimental data set to test the relationship. It is hypothesized that senior water rights, those with an older priority date, will have higher prices, while junior water rights, those that have been more recently established, will have lower prices. A cross-sectional analysis using an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model will be conducted to test this hypothesis. If the expected relationship is observed and found to be significant, this study may have policy implications that could impact decisions to regulate the market for temporary water rights transfers more strictly in the Western United States. Ultimately, since water scarcity and water rights are a growing economic and environmental concern in regions around the globe, extensions of this work may lead to new policies and regulations on a global level

Brazil: The Impact of Business Conditions and Hyper-Urbanization on Development in the Country of the Future

In recent history, Brazil’s economy has featured the typical boom and bust cycle. In the “boom” phases of this cycle the nation has been deemed “The Country of the Future.” Unfortunately, Brazil has never been called “The Country of Now” because its booms are inhibited by culprits such as the bust in the cycle, a global downturn, or a lack of sufficient systems and infrastructure to continually support growth. Brazil is situated in the northern part of South America, and covers 47.3 percent of the continent (United Nations, 2013). It ranks fifth in the world both in terms of area and population with 196,655,014 people (World Bank, 2011). Careful examination of Brazil’s economic data indicates that it is moving towards a service-based economy, an indication that the economy is becoming similar to those of high-income nations. However, high inequality remains a problem as evidenced by its high GINI coefficient