In this paper I integrate elements from the bankruptcy literature in a resource contest model. In a contest model, agents fight over a contested resource and their investment in 'guns' determines how much of the resource is secured by each agent. In a bankruptcy problem, agents claim a share of...

In many international river basins disputes over property rights to water lead to inefficient water allocation and a waste of resources. In this paper, we examine how contested water rights impede water trade. To show this, we use a model in which property rights to water are contested because...