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Water Distribution in Africa: The Behavioral Relevance of Scarcity and Social Status Ben D’Exelle ac, Els Lecoutere b and Bjorn Van Campenhout c March 2009 ABSTRACT Making use of a repeated distribution game experiment, we investigate how African peasants distribute and enforce water access in irrigation schemes. Two questions are addressed. First, we investigate the influence of scarcity by comparing a treatment with abundant water availability with a treatment where water is insufficient for both players to reach a minimum production threshold. Second, we study to what extent social status influences distribution and enforcement of water access. For this, we complement the experimental data with data from a social status ranking exercise. JEL classification: D74, C93 Keywords: Distribution of irrigation water; Social status; Scarcity; Field experiment; Tanzania a Radboud University, Center for International Development Issues, The Netherlands b Ghent University, Department of Third World Studies, Conflict Research Group, Belgium c University of Antwerp, Institute of Development Policy and Management, Belgium Acknowledgements We acknowledge financial support from the Institute of Development Policy and Management (University of Antwerp), Ghent University, MICROCON and the Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek. We are also grateful for the support by Incomet 2001 and the excellent field support by Charles Kyando. This research received research clearance from the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) and the Mufindi district council. 1 1. Introduction Rural African societies are