Article ID: CBB884837596

Water theft as social insurance: south-eastern Spain, 1851–1948† (2021)

unapi

For centuries, irrigation communities in south-eastern Spain were socially stable and economically efficient. In this article, we show how these self-governing institutions persisted by resolving conflicts over scarce resources with flexible punishment for water theft. We argue that variable penalties for violating irrigation rules provided social insurance to farmers during droughts. We develop a dynamic model in which judges trade off crime deterrence and social insurance, and test its predictions using a novel dataset on water theft in the self-governed irrigation community of Mula, Spain, from 1851 to 1948. For the same offence, we show that recidivists were punished more harshly than first-time offenders. When the defendant was wealthy, as indicated by the honorific title don, or the victim was poor, judgements were stricter.

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB884837596/

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Authors & Contributors
Rodrigues, Ana Duarte
Morgan, John Emrys
Bonan, Giacomo
Toribio, Carmen
Carmen Toribio Marín
Janssen, Diederik F.
Concepts
Drainage; irrigation
Crime
Water resource management
Science and government
Criminology
Water
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
20th century
18th century
17th century
16th century
Places
Spain
Italy
England
Portugal
France
Nile River
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