Corruption and allocation of water: the case of public irrigation in Pakistan

Corruption can determine the allocation of water in a large, public, canal-irrigation system. The socio-economic characteristics of farmers who participate in illegal exchanges are analyzed using hydraulic and socio-economic field data collected in 420 canal outlets of a southern Punjab irrigation system in Pakistan. A theoretical framework for analyzing a farmers’ decision to engage into corrupt transactions is proposed and validated through econometric analysis. The analysis shows that corruption does not only involve economically and politically powerful farmers, but that it also concerns the lower social segments of rural society.