Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Economics Research Institute Study Paper

Volume

8

Publisher

Utah State University Department of Economics

Publication Date

2001

Rights

Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact the Institutional Repository Librarian at digitalcommons@usu.edu.

First Page

1

Last Page

30

Abstract

Multiple-cost sharing rules often coexist in seemingly identical environments. We use shared irrigation costs as a context for examining the extent to which the structural environment explains the selection of a cost sharing rule. We find that environmental factors that-induce greater dependence on the cooperation of others, influence majority interests, create difficulties for interpersonal utility comparisons, or impact notions of "faimess"-all have impressive explanatory power. These results present the first formal empirical analysis of the manner in which structural features influence the actual cost-sharing choices of economic agents.

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