Informal Institutional Arrangements, The Formal Institutional Arrangements, The Efficiency Of Water Use - Zhongwei In Ningxia Yellow River Water Rights System In Case Studies

This paper takes Zhong Wei's water rights and institutions as a case to perspective the water rights and institution of the Yellow River valley's water utilization large family ──water for agricultural irrigation. It is described in a positive way. Five parts have been focused upon:The first part presents an introduction of the institution, its component and its effects on economic performance. The second part presents a survey of Zhong Wei: its natural geografic condition, its social economic condition and its irrigated areas. In the third part, after analysing the water rights and instituions of the gravity irrigated area which is in the Yellow River's north bank and the pumping irrigated area which is in the Yellow River's south bank,I expound that different informal constraints of water rights and institutions have different effects on the formal water rights institutional change and that institutional arrangements exert a tremendous influence on the allocation efficiency and utilization efficiency of the water resource. In the fourth part,I point out the defects of the present water rights and institutions. The defects of the northern gravity area is that: the water rights isn't c1early defined; the water price is too low; the water administration isn't strengthened; the law is imperfect. Generally,the water rights and institutions of the southern pumping area is good,yet it has the defects that the water price is low and there is no water transaction. The last part presents the water rights institutional innovation. We must combine the relative adventages of the government with the relative advantages of the market to provide a clear and definite law and policy environment on macro level and to construct an institutiona1 arrangements which can restrain water wasting and encourage water saving on micro level.