Prof. Yacov Tsur

 

My profile on google scholar

 

My research deals with natural resource economics under uncertainty with emphasis on water resources and resource management under catastrophic threats. My water economics research includes conjunctive management of ground and surface water under stochastic surface water supply, and water allocation and pricing. My research on natural resource management under catastrophic threats includes global warming policies under risk of climate change induced calamities, exploitation of coastal aquifers under threats of seawater intrusion, and bio-economic management under threats of ecological collapse. 

 

Curriculum Vitae

Resource management under catastrophic threats

Resource Management Under Catastrophic Threats (with Amos Zemel), 2021. Annual Review of Resource Economics. 13.

Coping with multiple catastrophic threats (with Amos Zemel), 2017, Environmental and Resource Economics, 68(1): 175–196.

Policy tradeoffs under risk of abrupt climate change (with Amos Zemel), 2016, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 132(B): 46-55.

The management of fragile resources: A long term perspective (with Amos Zemel), 2016, Environmental and Resource Economics, 65: 639-655.

Dynamic and stochastic analysis of environmental and natural resources (with Amos Zemel), 2013, in M.M. Fischer and P. Nijkamp (eds.) Handbook of Regional Science: 929- 949 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Preparing for catastrophic climate change (with Cees Withagen), 2013, Journal of Economics, 110(3): 225-239.

Renewable resource management with stochastic recharge and environmental

threats (with Arie Leizarowitz), 2012, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 36(5): 736–753.

Time perspective and climate change policy (with Larry Karp), 2011, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 62: 1-14.

Endogenous discounting and climate policy (with Amos Zemel), 2009, Environmental and Resource Economics 44(4):507-520.

Regulating Environmental Threats (with Amos Zemel), 2008, Environmental and Resource Economics, 39:297-310.

Resource exploitation, biodiversity loss and ecological events (with Amos Zemel), 2007, in

A. Kontoleon, U. Pascual and T. Swanson (eds) Biodiversity Economics, Cambridge University Press, 115-130.

Bio-Economic Resource Management under Threats of Environmental Catastrophes (with Amos Zemel), 2007, Ecological Research, 22:431-438.

Welfare Measurement under Threats of Environmental Catastrophes (with Amos Zemel), 2006, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 52:421-429.

Endangered aquifers: Groundwater Management under Threats of Catastrophic Events (with Amos Zemel), 2004, Water Resources Research, 40:1-10.

Trans-Boundary Water Projects and Political Uncertainty (with Amos Zemel), 1998, in R. Just and S. Netanyahu (eds) Conflict and Cooperation on Trans-Boundary Water Resources, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 279-295.

On event uncertainty and renewable resource management (with Amos Zemel), 1997, in

D. Parker and Y. Tsur (eds) Decentralization and Coordination of Water Resource Management, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 283-298.

Pollution Control in an Uncertain Environment (with Amos Zemel), 1998,Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 22:967-975.

Accounting for Global Warming Risks: Resource Management Under Environmental Uncertainty (with Amos Zemel), 1996, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 20:1289-1305.

Uncertainty and Irreversibility in Groundwater Resource Management (with Amos Zemel), 1995, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 29:149-161

 

Endangered Species and Natural Resource Exploitation: Extinction vs. Coexistence (with Amos Zemel), 1994, Natural Resource Modeling, 8:389-413

 

 

Conjunctive management of water resources

Conjunctive management of water resources in agriculture, 2015, In A. Dinar and K. Schwabe (Eds) Handbook of Water Economics, Edward Elgar Publishers (in press).

Perennial crops under stochastic water supply (with Eli Feinerman), 2014, Agricultural Economics, 45: 757–766.

A General Equilibrium Analysis of Conjunctive Ground and Surface Water Use with an Application to Morocco (with Xinshen Diao, Ariel Dinar and Terry Roe), 2008, Agricultural Economics, 38:117-135.

The Stabilization Value of Groundwater and Conjunctive Water Management under Uncertainty (with Masahiko Gemma), 2007, Review of Agricultural Economics (papers and proceedings), 29:540-548

The Economics of Conjunctive Ground and Surface Water Irrigation Systems: Basic Principles and Empirical Evidence from Southern California , 1997, in D. Parker and Y. Tsur (eds) Decentralization and Coordination of Water Resource Management, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 339-362.

Managing Drainage Problems in a Conjunctive Ground and Surface Water System , 1991, in A. Dinar and D. Zilberman (eds) The Economics and Management of Water and Drainage in Agriculture, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 617-636.

The Buffer Value of Groundwater with Stochastic Surface Water Supplies (with Theodore Graham-Tomasi), 1991, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 21:201-224

The Stabilization Value of Groundwater when Surface Water Supplies are Uncertain: The Implications for Groundwater Development , 1990, Water Resources Research, 26:811-818

Water allocation and pricing

The Economics of Water Resources: A Comprehensive Approach (with Ariel Dinar). 2021. Cambridge University Press.

Closing the gap between water needs and renewable water supplies: Global perspective, local lessons. 2021. In H. de Gorter, J. McCluskey, J. Swinnen and D. Zilberman (Eds.) Modern Agricultural and Resource Economics and Policy: Essays in Honor of Gordon C. Rausser. Springer.

Optima water pricing: Accounting for environmental externalities, Ecological Economics, 2020, 170, 106429.

Water policy guidelines: A comprehensive approach (with Amos Zemel), 2018, Water Resources and Economics (online).

Reclaiming the Dead Sea: Alternatives for action (with Abdallah I.H. Malkawi), 2016, In R.

F. Hüttl, O. Bens, C. Bismuth, S. Hoechstetter (Eds.), Society - Water - Technology: A Critical Appraisal of Major Water Engineering Projects, Springer Open, 205 - 225.

Closing the (widening) gap between water resources and water needs in the Jordan Basin region: A long term perspective, 2015, Water Policy, 17: 538–557.

On the economics of water allocation and pricing , 2009 Annual Reviews of Resource Economics, 1:513-35.

Economic aspects of irrigation water pricing , 2005, Canadian Water Resources Journal, 30:31-46.

Irrigation water pricing: policy implications based on International Comparison (with Ariel Dinar, Terry L. Roe and Rachid M. Doukkali), 2004, Environment and Development Economics, 9:735-755.

Introduction to special section on Irrigation Water Pricing, 2004, Water Resources Research, 40(7): DOI: 10.1029/2003WR002213.

Pricing of Irrigation Water: Principles and Cases from Developing Countries (with Ariel Dinar, Terry L. Roe and Rachid M. Doukkali), 2004, RFF Press.

Pricing and Allocation of Irrigation Water: A Review of Theory and Practice (with R. C. Johansson., T. L. Roe, R. M. Doukkali and A. Dinar), 2002,Water Policy, 4:173-199.

Water Regulation via Pricing: The Role of Implementation Costs and Asymmetric Information , 2000, in Ariel Dinar (ed.) The Political Economy of Water Pricing Reforms, Oxford University Press, 105-122.

The Relative Efficiency and Implementation Costs of Alternative Methods for Pricing Irrigation Water (with Ariel Dinar), 1998, The World Bank Economic Review, 11:243-262.

Asymmetric Information and the Pricing of Natural Resources: The Case of Unmetered Water (with with Rodney Smith), 1997, Land Economics, 73:392-403.

 

 

 

Publications

Books

The Economics of Water Resources: A Comprehensive Approach (with Ariel Dinar). 2021. Cambridge University Press.

Management of transboundary water resources under scarcity: A multidisciplinary approach (edited with Arial Dinar), 2017, World Scientific.

Pricing Irrigation Water: Principles and Cases from Developing Countries (with Ariel Dinar, Terry L. Roe and Rachid M. Doukkali), 2004, RFF Press: Washington, DC.

Decentralization and Coordination of Water Resource Management (edited with Douglas Parker), 1997, Kluwer Academic Publishers: Boston.

Journal Articles

Can Resource Windfalls Reduce Corruption?: The Role Of Term Limits. (with Ohad Raveh),2023, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 122, 102891. 

Political tenure, term limits and corruption, European Journal of Political Economy, 2022, 102166.

Resource Management Under Catastrophic Threats (with Amos Zemel), Annual Review of Resource Economics, 2021, 13:403-425.

Reelection, growth and public debt (with Ohad Raveh), European Journal of Political Economy, 2020, 63, 101889

Resource Windfalls and Public Debt: A Political Economy Perspective (with Ohad Raveh), European Economic Review, 2020, 123, 103371.

Optima water pricing: Accounting for environmental externalities, Ecological Economics, 2020, 170, 106429.

A comprehensive framework for optimal management of water resources (with Amos Zemel), 2018, Global Water Forum.

Water policy guidelines: A comprehensive approach (with Amos Zemel), Water Resources and Economics, 2018, 23: 1 - 13.

Coping with Multiple Catastrophic Threats (with Amos Zemel), Environmental and Resource Economics, 2017, 68(1): 175–196.

Bounding reasonable doubt: implications for plea bargaining, European Journal of Law and Economics, 2017, 44: 197-216.

Steady state properties of multi-state economic models (with Amos Zemel), Canadian Journal of Economics, 2017, 50: 506-521.

Policy tradeoffs under risk of abrupt climate change (with Amos Zemel), 2016, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 132: 46-55.

The management of fragile resources: A long term perspective (with Amos Zemel). Environmental and Resource Economics, 2016, 65: 639–655.

Closing the (widening) gap between water resources and water needs in the Jordan Basin region: A long term perspective, Water Policy, 2015, 17:538–557.

On the existence of unbounded endogenous economic growth (with Alexander Zaslavski), Nonlinear Analysis Forum, 2014, 19: 155–171.

Steady-state properties in a class of dynamic models (with Amos Zemel). Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control. 2014. 39: 165–177.

Perennial crops under stochastic water supply (with Eli Feinerman). Agricultural Economics. 2014. 45:757- 766.

Preparing for catastrophic climate change (with Cees Withagen), Journal of Economics. 2013. 110: 225-239.

Agricultural landscape value and irrigation water policy (with Mara Thiene). Journal of Agricultural Economics. 2013. 64: 641–653.

Announcing climate policy: Can the Green Paradox arise without scarcity? (with Sjak Smulders and Amos Zemel). Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. 2012. 64: 364- 376.

Resource management with stochastic recharge and environmental threats (with Arie Leizarowitz). Journal of Economic Dynamics & Control. 2012. 36: 736–753.

Time perspective and climate change policy (with Larry Karp). Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. 2011. 62: 1-14.

On the dynamics of competing energy sources (with Amos Zemel). Automatica. 2011. 47:1357–1365.

Cost–benefit tests for GHG emissions from biofuel production (with Harry de Gorter). European Review of Agricultural Economics. 2010. 37:133–145.

Dynamic-spatial management of coastal aquifers (with Iddo Kan and Arie Leizarowitz). Optimal Control Applications and Methods. 2010. 31:29-41.

Endogenous discounting and climate policy (with Amos Zemel). Environmental and Resource Economics. 2009. 44:507-520.

On the economics of water allocation and pricing. Annual Reviews of Resource Economics. 2009. 1:513-35.

Irrigation production functions with water-capital substitution (with Uri Shani, Amos Zemel and David Zilberman). Agricultural Economics. 2009. 40:55-66.

The amenity value of agricultural landscape and rural-urban land allocation (with Aliza Fleischer). Journal of Agricultural Economics. 2009. 60:132–153

Regulating Environmental Threats (with Amos Zemel). Environmental and Resource Economics. 2008. 39:297-310.

A General Equilibrium Analysis of Conjunctive Ground and Surface Water Use with an Application to Morocco (with Xinshen Diao, Ariel Dinar and Terry Roe). Agricultural Economics. 2008. 38:117-135.

Towards Endogenous Recombinant Growth (with Amos Zemel). Journal of Economic Dynamics & Control. 2007. 31: 3459-3477.

On the Dynamics of Knowledge-Based Economic Growth (with Amos Zemel). Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications. 2007. 135:101-115.

Bio-Economic Resource Management under Threats of Environmental Catastrophes (with Amos Zemel). Ecological Research. 2007. 22:431-438.

The Stabilization Value of Groundwater and Conjunctive Water Management under Uncertainty (with Masahiko Gemma). Review of Agricultural Economics. 2007. 29:540- 548.

Welfare Measurement under Threats of Environmental Catastrophes (with Amos Zemel). Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. 2006. 52:421-429.

Scarcity, Growth and R&D (with Amos Zemel). Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. 2005. 49: 484-499.

Feedback Links Between Economy-wide and Farm Level Policies: With Application to Irrigation Water Management in Morocco (with Xihsnen Dia, Ariel Dinar and Terry Roe). Journal of Policy Modeling. 2005. 27:905-928.

Economic Aspects of Irrigation Water Pricing. Canadian Water Resources Journal. 2005. 30(1):31-46.

Irrigation Water Pricing (introduction to a Special Issue), 2004. Water Resources Research. 40(WO7SO1): 1-3.

Irrigation Water Pricing: Policy Implications Based on International Comparison (with Ariel Dinar, Rachid Doukkali and Terry Roe). Environment and Development Economics. 2004. 9:735-755.

Optimal Dynamic Irrigation Schemes (with Uri Shani and Amos Zemel). Optimal Control Applications and Methods. 2004. 25:91-106.

Endangered Aquifers: Groundwater Management under Threats of Catastrophic Events (with Amos Zemel). Water Resources Research. 2004. 40 (W06S20): 1-10.

Measuring the Recreational Benefit of Open Space (with A. Fleischer). Journal of Agricultural Economics. 2003. 54:269-283.

Optimal Transition to Backstop Substitutes for Nonrenewable Resources (with Amos Zemel). 2003. Journal of Economic Dynamics & Control. 27: 551-572.

The Regulation of Environmental Innovations (with Amos Zemel). 2002. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. 44: 242-260.

Pricing and Allocation of Irrigation Water: A Review of Theory and Practice (with R. C. Johansson., T. L. Roe, R. M. Doukkali and A. Dinar), 2002. Water Policy. 4(2): 173-199.

The Infinite Horizon Dynamic Optimization Problem Revisited: A Simple Method to Determine Equilibrium States (with Amos Zemel). 2001. European Journal of Operational Research. 131: 482-490.

R&D Policies for Desalination Technologies (with Amos Zemel). 2000. Agricultural Economics. 24: 73-85.

Measuring the Recreational Value of Agricultural Landscape (with Aliza Fleischer). 2000. European Review of Agricultural Economics. 27(3): 385-398.

Long-term Perspective on the Development of Solar Energy (with Amos Zemel). 2000. Solar Energy. 68(5): 379-392.

Pollution Control in an Uncertain Environment (with Amos Zemel). 1998. Journal of Economic Dynamics & Control, 22(6), 967-975.

Count-data regression models of the time to adopt new technologies (with Bruce McWilliams, Eithan Hochman and David Zilberman). 1998. Applied Economics Letters. 5. 369-373.

The Relative Efficiency and Implementation Costs of Alternative Methods for Pricing Irrigation Water (with Ariel Dinar). 1997. The World Bank Economic Review. 11: 243-262.

Asymmetric Information and the Pricing of Natural Resources: The Case of Unmetered Water (with Rodney Smith). 1997. Land Economics. 73: 392-403.

Accounting for Global Warming Risks: Resource Management Under Environmental Uncertainty (with Amos Zemel). 1996. Journal of Economic Dynamics & Control. 20: 1289-1305.

Uncertainty and Irreversibility in Groundwater Resource Management (with Amos Zemel). 1995. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. 29: 149-161.

Efficiency and Equity Considerations in Pricing and Allocating Irrigation Water (with Ariel Dinar), 1995, Policy Research Working Paper 1460, The World Bank.

Endangered Species and Natural Resource Exploitation: Extinction vs. Coexistence (with Amos Zemel). 1994. Natural Resource Modeling. 8: 389-413.

On a Simple Estimation Procedure for Censored Regression Models with Known Error Distribution (with Leo Breiman and Amos Zemel). 1993. The Annals of Statistics. 21: 1711- 1720.

A Simple Procedure to Evaluate Ex-Ante Producer Welfare Under Price Uncertainty. 1993. American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 75: 44-51.

Stochastic Energy Demand and the Stabilization Value of Energy Storage (with Amos Zemel). 1992. Natural Resource Modeling. 6: 435-447.

The Buffer Value of Groundwater with Stochastic Surface Water Supplies (with Theodore Graham-Tomasi). 1991. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. 21: 201- 224. Appeared also as a book chapter in Grafton R. Q. (ed), 2009, Economics Of Water Resources, Edward Elgar.

Explaining Policy Bias in Agriculture: the Calculus of Support Maximizing Politicians (with Harry de Gorter). 1991. American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 73: 1244-1254.

Dynamic Modelling of Innovation Process Adoption with Risk Aversion and Learning (with Menachem Sternberg and Eithan Hochman). 1990. Oxford Economic Papers. 42: 336-355.

The Stabilization Value of Groundwater when Surface Water Supplies are Uncertain: The Implications for Groundwater Development. 1990. Water Resources Research. 26: 811- 818.

On Testing for Revealed Preference Conditions. 1989. Economics Letters. 31: 359-362.

Fossil Groundwater as a Basis for Arid Zone Development? An Economic Inquiry (with Hokyoun Park and Arie Issar). 1989. International Journal of Water Resources Development. 5:191- 201. Appeared also as a book chapter in R. Maria Saleth (ed.), 2002, Water Resources and Economic Development, Edward Elgar: Northampton.

Cooperative Labor Allocation Under Uncertainty (with Claudia Parliament and David Zilberman). 1989. Journal of Comparative Economics. 13: 539-552.

Optimizing Agriculture Management of a Single Species Fish Population (with Hovav Talpaz). 1982. Agricultural System. 9: 127-142.

Book Chapters

Closing the gap between water needs and renewable water supplies: Global perspective, local lessons. 2021. In H. de Gorter, J. McCluskey, J. Swinnen and D. Zilberman (Eds.) Modern Agricultural and Resource Economics and Policy: Essays in Honor of Gordon C. Rausser. Springer.

Closing the (Widening) Gap Between Natural water Resources and Water Needs in the Jordan River Basin: A Long-Term Perspective. 2017. In A. Dinar and Y. Tsur (Eds.) Management of Transboundary Water Resources under Scarcity. World Scientific.

Reclaiming the Dead Sea: Alternatives for action (with Abdallah I.H. Malkawi). 2015. In R. F. Hüttl,O. Bens, C. Bismuth, S. Hoechstetter (Eds.) Society - Water - Technology: A Critical Appraisal of Major Water Engineering Projects. Springer Open. 205 - 225.

Water Scarcity and Water Institutions (with Ariel Dinar). 2015. In K. Burnett, R. Howitt, J. A. Roumasset and C. A. Wada (Eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Water Economics and Institutions. Routledge. 218 - 235.

Conjunctive management of water resources in agriculture. 2015. In Dinar, A. and K. Schwabe (Eds.) Handbook of Water Economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing: 388 – 406.

Uncertain climate policy and the Green Paradox (with S. Smulders and A. Zemel). 2014. In: E. Moser, W. Semmler, G. Tragler and V.M. Veliov (Eds.) Dynamic Optimization in Environmental Economics, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Dynamic and stochastic analysis of environmental and natural resources (with Amos Zemel), 2014, in M.M. Fischer and P. Nijkamp (Eds.) Handbook of Regional Science, Springer, Berlin.

Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance Study Program: Study of Alternatives (with J. Anthony Allan and Abdallah I. H. Malkawi), 2014 

Resource Exploitation, Biodiversity Loss and Ecological Events (with Amos Zemel), 2007, in A. Kontoleon, U. Pascual and T. Swanson (Eds.) Biodiversity Economics, Principles, Methods and Applications, pp. 115 – 130, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge UK.

Characterizing Dynamic Irrigation Policies via Green's Theorem (with Uri Shani and Amos Zemel), 2005, in C. Deissenberg and R. Hartl (Eds.) Optimal Control and Dynamic Games, pp.105-117, Springer: New York.

Water Regulation via Pricing: The Role of Implementation Costs and Asymmetric Information, 2000, in Ariel Dinar (Ed.) The Political Economy of Water Pricing Reforms, Oxford University Press.

Trans-boundary Water Projects and Political Uncertainty (with Amos Zemel), 1997, in R.E. Just and S. Netaniyau (Eds) “Conflict and Cooperation on Trans-Boundary Water Resources, Kluwer Academic Publishers: Boston.

On Event Uncertainty and Natural Resource Management (with Amos Zemel), 1997, in D. Parker and Y. Tsur (Eds) Decentralization and Coordination of Water Resource Management, Kluwer Academic Publishers: Boston.

The Economics of Conjunctive Ground and Surface Water Irrigation Systems: Basic Principles and Empirical Evidence from Southern California, 1997, in D. Parker and Y. Tsur (Eds) Decentralization and Coordination of Water Resource Management, Kluwer Academic Publishers: Boston, 339-362.

Economic mechanism for managing water resources: pricing, permits and markets (with William K. Easter and Nir Becker), 1997, in Asit K. Biswas (Eed.) Water Resources: Environmental Planning, Management, and Development, McGraw-Hill: New York.

The Design of Institutional Arrangements for Water Allocation (with William K. Easter), 1995, in Ariel Dinar and Edna T. Loehman (Eds.) Water Quantity/Quality Management and Conflicts and Resolution, Praeger, Westport, CT: 107-118.

Managing Drainage Problems in a Conjunctive Ground and Surface Water System, 1991, in A. Dinar and D. Zilberman (Eds.), The Economics and Management of Water and Drainage in Agriculture, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston.

The Political Economy of Agricultural Policy and Trade (with Harry de Gorter), 1990, in C.A. Carter, A.F. McCalla and J.A. Sharples, (Eds.), Imperfect Competition and Political Economy, Westview Press.

The Buffer Role of Groundwater when Supply of Surface Water is Uncertain (with Arie Issar), 1988, in E. Custadio and A. Gurginia (Eds.), Groundwater Economics, 373-379, Elsevier, Amsterdam.

Economic Aspects of the Management of Algal Production (with Eithan Hochman) 1986, in A. Richmond (Ed.) Handbook of Microalgal Mass Culture, CRC press.

 

 

 

Recent discussion papers

Teaching

Resource Economics (71183)

The course provides knowledge in management of renewable natural resources and unrenewable resources. We use Dynamic models in problems of exploitation of natural resources over time. We will discuss the problems of market failures, considerations of social interest vr private interest  intergenerational allocation of natural resources.

Econometrics (71989)

The course intends to equip graduate students with basic econometric tools needed to analyze economic data. First the standard regression model will be reviewed, including Least Squares estimation, its statistical properties, and testing statistical hypotheses. Then, the assumptions underlying the standard linear regression model will be relaxed, including models with heteroscedastic and serially correlated errors. Models with panel data (cross section and time series) will be studied. . Instrumental Variable estimation will be studied and used to deal with situations in which the assumption that the explanators are independent of the error term fail to hold. Large sample theory (Laws of Large Numbers and Central Limit Theorems) will be used to relax the normality assumption. Generalized Method of Moments and Maximum Likelihood estimation will be reviewed. Models with Limited dependent variables and models of simultaneous equations will be briefly reviewed. Each of the course's topics will be practiced with actual data via weekly homework assignments

Environmental Economics (71705)

The course covers the methods and tools available for measuring the economic value of natural resources and environmental amenities. Providing economic values to environmental qualities and amenities such as clean air and water, natural parks, agricultural landscape, and the protection of species under risk of extinction is necessary for environmental policy making. It is well known that market data (such as prices) cannot be used to value public goods (such as environmental qualities and amenities) and as a result a plethora of methods has been developed in the past recent years. We will study these methods and examine their use in the design and implementation of environmental policy.