Water rights: a comparison of the impacts of urban and irrigation reforms in Australia

Although there has been a policy thrust towards making all Australians more cognisant of the relative scarcity of water resources, the approach adopted for urban dwellers differs markedly from that applied to irrigators. These differences are examined from a property-rights perspective focussing primarily on the institutional hierarchies in the Victorian water sector. The analysis reveals significant attenuation of urban dwellers’ rights, presumably on the basis of the information deficiencies that circumscribe urban water use. Alternative policy options are then proposed, which might alleviate some of these information deficiencies and simultaneously address the efficiency losses that attend the present arrangements.consumer demand, institutional economics, water management and policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

The valuation of market information from livestock selling complexes

The efficient operation of livestock markets is contingent upon producers accessing relevant market information which assists adjustment to production and distribution. This article provides an analysis of the value of market information gleaned by producers attending public livestock auctions. The article uses the Travel Cost Method to quantify the value of this information and notes the limitations of applying the Travel Cost Method in this context.Agribusiness, Livestock Production/Industries,

Flavored Dark Matter and R-Parity Violation

Minimal Flavor Violation offers an alternative symmetry rationale to R-parity conservation for the suppression of proton decay in supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model. The naturalness of such theories is generically under less tension from LHC searches than R-parity conserving models. The flavor symmetry can also guarantee the stability of dark matter if it carries flavor quantum numbers. We outline general features of supersymmetric flavored dark matter (SFDM) models within the framework of MFV SUSY. A simple model of top flavored dark matter is presented. If the dark matter is a thermal relic, then nearly the entire parameter space of the model is testable by upcoming direct detection and LHC searches.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

The Draft Genome of the Invasive Walking Stick, Medauroidea extradendata, Reveals Extensive Lineage-Specific Gene Family Expansions of Cell Wall Degrading Enzymes in Phasmatodea.

Plant cell wall components are the most abundant macromolecules on Earth. The study of the breakdown of these molecules is thus a central question in biology. Surprisingly, plant cell wall breakdown by herbivores is relatively poorly understood, as nearly all early work focused on the mechanisms used by symbiotic microbes to breakdown plant cell walls in insects such as termites. Recently, however, it has been shown that many organisms make endogenous cellulases. Insects, and other arthropods, in particular have been shown to express a variety of plant cell wall degrading enzymes in many gene families with the ability to break down all the major components of the plant cell wall. Here we report the genome of a walking stick, Medauroidea extradentata, an obligate herbivore that makes uses of endogenously produced plant cell wall degrading enzymes. We present a draft of the 3.3Gbp genome along with an official gene set that contains a diversity of plant cell wall degrading enzymes. We show that at least one of the major families of plant cell wall degrading enzymes, the pectinases, have undergone a striking lineage-specific gene family expansion in the Phasmatodea. This genome will be a useful resource for comparative evolutionary studies with herbivores in many other clades and will help elucidate the mechanisms by which metazoans breakdown plant cell wall components

NUTRITION INFORMATION AND HOUSEHOLD DIETARY FAT INTAKE

An endogenous switching regression model is used to examine how meal planner health knowledge affects dietary fat intake. Ethnicity, income, meal planner age, being on a low-fat diet, and other health awareness behaviors had significant effects on health knowledge. After controlling for differences in household and meal planner characteristics, intake of total and saturated fat was found to depend on health knowledge status.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Regulation versus pricing in urban water policy: the case of the Australian National Water Initiative

The Australian National Water Initiative (NWI) builds on the foundations of earlier water reforms, attempts to correct earlier errors in both policy and its implementation, and seeks to better define some of the policy aims with the benefit of hindsight. However, despite the deliberate effort to improve on earlier reforms, the NWI still embodies a significant economic paradox. Although policymakers have shown their faith in the market insofar as allocating water between competing agricultural interests is concerned, they have not shown the same degree of faith in the ability of urban users to respond to price signals. This paper attempts to shed at least some light on this question by examining the responses of a number of State governments across Australia to the NWI. The paper specifically explores the rationale for non-price regulation in the urban context but challenges the long-term viability of this approach.water reform, urban water, water market, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Water Buy-Back in Australia: Political, Technical and Allocative Challenges

State and Federal governments are increasingly reliant on the re-purchase of water access rights as a vehicle for bringing ‘over-allocation’ in the Murray- Darling Basin into check. Not surprisingly, this has attracted criticism from several quarters, usually on the basis that such mechanisms produce unnecessary hardship for rural communities. Set against this are the views of many economists who have bemoaned the modest endeavours of governments to actively use water markets and the ongoing proclivity of agencies to instead embark on public projects under the guise of water use efficiency (see, for example Watson 2008). This paper focuses specifically on water buyback and traces recent policy episodes in this context. The paper also offers details of alternative market instruments which have the potential to improve on the current, relatively fragmented arrangements. We use contemporary examples to test the efficacy of alternative buyback instruments in the hope of informing policy formulation.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Water markets as a vehicle for water reform: the case of New South Wales

Water reform in NSW is being undertaken using an adaptive approach in recognition of the uncertainty and imperfect knowledge embodied in the riverine environment. However, the reform process also relies, in part, on the ability of markets for tradable water entitlements to develop and thereby assist in allocating scarce water resources to their highest value use. This article explores impediments to the formation of efficient markets in permanent tradable water entitlements in NSW. The article concludes that more attention should be paid to market failures and related problems which manifest themselves in thin markets for permanent water entitlements.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,