The capitalization of property rights to groundwater
研究美国堪萨斯州高平原含水层地区地下水产权的三个核心特征（获取权、分配量、优先权）如何资本化为农业土地价值，发现获取权带来71%的土地溢价，分配量和优先权也显著影响地价。
Abstract There is limited empirical evidence on the value of formal property rights to natural resources when they are not transferable, and there is regulatory uncertainty about enforcement. This paper takes a hedonic approach to understanding how three core features of groundwater property rights—access, allocation, and seniority—are capitalized into agricultural land values in the High Plains Aquifer region of Kansas. We find that groundwater access rights confer an average land value premium of 71%, or $1445/acre in 2019 dollars. Water rights having larger allocations and more seniority are more highly valued in the land market. The seniority effect is small but is consistent with more junior rights facing greater regulatory risk of curtailment. Taken together, these results suggest that the land market capitalizes constraints to groundwater pumping provided by groundwater property rights. We use our empirical estimates to quantify the distributional costs of modifying existing patterns of pumping, a common challenge of groundwater management organizations seeking to improve the sustainability of extraction.