PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Chaudhry, Anita M.
AU  - Fairbanks, Dean H. K.
AU  - Nolte, Christoph
TI  - Water Market Participation and Agricultural Land Values
AID  - 10.3368/le.100.1.102122-0091R
DP  - 2024 Feb 01
TA  - Land Economics
PG  - 127--147
VI  - 100
IP  - 1
4099  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/100/1/127.short
4100  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/100/1/127.full
AB  - Policies that improve drought resilience have heterogeneous effects on agricultural land values. We examine the value of surface water transfers and groundwater resources in a hedonic analysis of agricultural parcels in California. We find that parcels in irrigation districts, which engage in interbasin surface water transfers, experience an increase in value in subsequent years, but the gains are short-lived and unevenly distributed. Value of groundwater stock is higher in parcels outside irrigation districts. We also find that policies to restrict groundwater-substitution-based transfers, which aimed to reduce groundwater open-access externalities, have not been a deterrent against transfers in all areas.