The economic functioning of a key supramunicipal institution in water management in the Valencian Community: The Water Consortium of the Marina Baja (Alicante)

Abstract

The economy is an institutionalized activity and hence the importance of identifying and analyzing the institutions involved in each economic phenomenon. In the management of water resources, the importance of institutional aspects has become clear in the recent Spanish economic history. On many occasions, the success or failure of a the model of water resources management depends, to a large extent, on the institutions commissioned and basically those located on the most disaggregated scale possible.

This paper tries to analyze the reasons for the emergence of an institution that, at present, is key in the management of water supply in an area where the articulation of agricultural, urban and tourist uses - let's not forget that in It is located in the municipality of Benidorm–, has allowed to improve the efficiency of the system as a whole. On the other hand, this research also provides clues about the economic functioning of the Administrative Consortiums, an administrative figure that has received little attention from the economic point of view and that this work provides elements for its analysis.