中文摘要：

城市水资源短缺已然成为中国最严重的环境问题之一。在气候变化及社会经济快速发展的背景下,水资源短缺问题加剧。本文采用2002-2012年中国285个地级市的面板数据,实证分析了递进阶梯水价对中国城市居民生活用水影响。计量结果表明,在统一水价制度框架下,水价的提高确实能减缓用水短缺,但由于水价缺乏弹性,统一水价调节用水的功能有限。此外,进一步实证研究显示,已实施阶梯水价的城市比统一水价的城市能减少16.58%水消耗。除价格因素之外,实证发现,居民家庭人均可支配收入、家庭总人口数、从业人员数占比、年均降雨量以及年平均气温导致了家庭水消耗增加,而受教育程度和人口的聚集导致家庭水使用量减少。以此为基础,本文设计了四级阶梯水价。通过构建非线性预算约束的家庭经济模型以及家庭福利分析,结果发现,采用四级阶梯水价比国家发改委（NDRC）的三级阶梯水价不仅能提高水资源使用效率,而且预测得知可提高低收入家庭福利为107.6元。

英文摘要：

Water resource shortages in cities have become one of the most severe environmental problems in China. Under climate change,the rapid development of the social economy has resulted in an exacerbation of water resource shortages. Here,we examine the impact of increasing block water tariffs（IBWT）on residential water usage in Chinese cities using econometric models with a panel dataset（285 prefectures and above cities） spanning 2002 to 2012. The results of econometric analysis show that under a uniform pricing system（UP）,increasing water price can really reduce residential water shortage in Chinese cities,however,the welfare of low income families is impacted as water prices increase. Cities with IBWT reduce water consumption by16.58%,compared to cities with UP. Except for the water price factor,family disposable income per person on average,family total population on average,the ratio of the number of employees to total population in a city,annual rainfall on average,and annual temperature on average tend to increase residential water usage in Chinese cities,while education attainment and population concentration tend to reduce residential water consumption in Chinese cities. Based on these approaches,we designed an IBWT system with a four-tier structure. Through welfare analysis we found that the new IBWT system with a four-tier structure not only increases water use efficiency,but improves the welfare of low income families by 107.6 yuan with a prediction,compared to the three- tier structure proposed by the National Development and Reform Commission（NDRC）.This work provides policy recommendations with a new IBWT system and four- tier structure by constructing household models under nonlinear budget constraints and welfare analysis.