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Susan Stratton Sayre
Susan Stratton Sayre is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Smith College. She received her B.A. from Swarthmore College, and her M.S. and Ph.D. in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California, Berkeley. She uses numerical simulation and dynamic optimisation techniques to investigate water policy in a variety of settings. Her recent work focuses on the downside risk of climate change in the California Central Valley agricultural sector; how the possibility of improved information influences optimal current payments for hydrological ecosystem services; the impact of endogenous investment in well deepening on groundwater externalities; and the impact of mistrust on negotiations over the future of California’s Sacramento San Joaquin delta.
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Groundwater depletion in India: Social losses from costly well deepening
There is widespread concern about groundwater over-extraction in India and, in turn, the long-term sustainability of irrigated agriculture. Since groundwater is a common pool resource, its overuse imposes costs or negative externalities on others. This article estimates social losses from groundwater over-extraction in arid Northwest India, and finds that the opportunity for farmers to repeatedly re-invest in deeper wells for irrigation significantly exacerbates the externality.
