Sinking Land: Optimal Control of Subsidence

Arbeitspapier

Land subsidence threatens the living conditions of roughly 1.2 billion people worldwide in deltaic regions characterized by soft top soil. Economic activity in deltaic regions requires lowering the groundwater levels to keep the land sufficiently dry to maintain productivity, which, however, leaves future generations worse off by accelerating subsidence and increasing future costs. The current policymaking is often myopic by ignoring this intertemporal trade-off. This paper provides a model recognizing this trade-off: we integrate the dynamics of land subsidence and groundwater management to derive optimal paths for controlling the groundwater level. Applying our model to the paradigm case of Dutch agricultural peatlands, we find that the welfare costs of ignoring dynamic efficiency can be in the order of 10 percent of the land value. Our results support current proposals to slow down subsidence by increasing the groundwater levels even in the absence of its social benefits such as avoided carbon dioxide emissions.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 10683

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis ; Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment ; Renewable Resources and Conservation: Land ; Renewable Resources and Conservation: Water ; Environmental Economics: General
• Subject: land subsidence ; agricultural production ; intertemporal trade-offs ; water management ; optimal control

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Sen, Suphi ; Verhoeven, Dewy ; Weikard, Hans-Peter
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2023

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/282371
• Last update: 2025-03-10T11:44:15+0100