Sustainable Development in Water-stressed Developing Countries: A Quantitative Policy Analysis

This book presents a coherent body of research work encompassing conceptual clarification, theoretical analysis and empirical analysis employing a case study. This book is motivated to operationalise sustainable development (SD) in the spirit of Brundtland Report paying special attention to water-stressed developing countries. The main objective of SD is defined as poverty alleviation of the present generation without destructing ecosystems underpinning life support systems. This book develops an innovative dynamic optimisation CGE model based on Ramsey growth model but employs imperfect foresight assumption and decentralised setting in which private agent and the government optimise their objective functions separately. The model also addresses tradeoffs between rainfed and irrigated agriculture, urban unemployment due to rural-urban migration and welfare costs of lack of safe water access. The model is calibrated and dynamically validated against Moroccan data. The policy simulations provide rich information to assess the outcomes of sustainable development policies.