ABSTRACT
Intersectoral water allocation will first be assessed at national level and then at the level of the Zarqa Basin. While the analysis at national level remains relatively general, the only factors quantified being direct benefits, transport costs and forgone indirect benefits as a result of rural-urban water transfers, the analysis of the Zarqa Basin is more detailed in that it includes transaction costs and forgone indirect benefits. The section concludes with a historical overview of structural change and the relative decline of agriculture in the Jordanian economy and with an application of the concept of the import into Jordan of “virtual water” in the form of food.
