Donna, Javier D. (Author)
Espín-Sánchez, José-Antonio (Author)
Economic History Review
Volume: 74
Issue: 3
Pages: 721-753
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.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Book
Ana Duarte Rodrigues;
Carmen Toribio;
(2020)
The History of Water Management in the Iberian Peninsula: Between the 16th and 19th Centuries
(/isis/citation/CBB276030174/)
Article
John Emrys Morgan;
(2017)
The Micro-Politics of Water Management in Early Modern England: Regulation and Representation in Commissions of Sewers
(/isis/citation/CBB322484821/)
Article
Silvestre, Javier;
Clar, Ernesto;
(2010)
The Demographic Impact of Irrigation Projects: A Comparison of Two Case Studies of the Ebro Basin, Spain, 1900--2001
(/isis/citation/CBB001034149/)
Book
Ana Duarte Rodrigues;
Carmen Toribio Marín;
(2020)
The History of Water Management in the Iberian Peninsula: Between the 16th and 19th Centuries
(/isis/citation/CBB223206567/)
Book
Erik Swyngedouw;
(2015)
Liquid Power: Contested Hydro-Modernities in Twentieth-Century Spain
(/isis/citation/CBB814785175/)
Article
David D. Vail;
(2022)
False Gospels of Efficiency: Contested Knowledge, Determined Experts, and Unfaithful Lands in Rural Utah
(/isis/citation/CBB589866588/)
Article
Ruiz Castell, Pedro;
(2008)
Scientific Instruments for Education in Early Twentieth-Century Spain
(/isis/citation/CBB000831684/)
Article
Rebelo, Fernanda;
Caponi, Sandra;
(2007)
O gabinete do doutor Edelvito Campelo D'Araújo: a Penitenciária Pedra Grande como espaço de construção de um saber (1933--1945)
(/isis/citation/CBB000831578/)
Book
Giacomo Bonan;
(2020)
Le acque agitate della patria: L’industrializzazione del Piave (1882-1966)
(/isis/citation/CBB271732959/)
Article
Greg Bankoff;
(July 2018)
Malaria, Water Management, and Identity in the English Lowlands
(/isis/citation/CBB283439358/)
Book
Maya K. Peterson;
(2019)
Pipe Dreams: Water and Empire in Central Asia's Aral Sea Basin
(/isis/citation/CBB173163059/)
Article
Martin, Thierry;
(2011)
Introduction
(/isis/citation/CBB001024470/)
Article
Ingold, Alice;
(2009)
To Historicize or Naturalize Nature: Hydraulic Communities and Administrative States in Nineteenth-Century Europe
(/isis/citation/CBB001030390/)
Book
RICARDO CAMPOS;
(2012)
El Caso Morillo: crimen, locura y subjetividad en la España de la Restauración
(/isis/citation/CBB702110167/)
Article
Watson, Katherine D.;
(2006)
Medical and Chemical Expertise in English Trials for Criminal Poisoning, 1750--1914
(/isis/citation/CBB000773961/)
Article
Júlia Gyimesi;
(2022)
Epilepsy, violence, and crime. A historical analysis
(/isis/citation/CBB971409915/)
Thesis
Cookson-Hills, Claire Jean;
(2013)
Engineering the Nile: Irrigation and the British Empire in Egypt, 1882--1914
(/isis/citation/CBB001567424/)
Book
Susan A. Ashley;
(2018)
“Misfits” in Fin-de-Siècle France and Italy: Anatomies of Difference
(/isis/citation/CBB632805594/)
Book
Rembis, Michael Allen;
(2011)
Defining Deviance: Sex, Science, and Delinquent Girls, 1890--1960
(/isis/citation/CBB001550481/)
Thesis
Hocker, Arne;
(2008)
The Order of Crime: Epistemology and Aesthetics of Lustmord in Criminology and Literature around 1900
(/isis/citation/CBB001561414/)
Be the first to comment!