Previously titled: The scope for institutional autonomy in a large groundwater basin: the potential for collective action in Western Australia

Groundwater extraction can have varied and diffuse effects. Negative external effects may include costs imposed on other groundwater users and on surrounding ecosystems. Environmental damages are commonly not reflected in market transactions. Groundwater transfers have the potential to cause...

Changing land-ownership patterns transform many rural landscapes from agricultural to multifunctional, which may have significant implications for land management and conservation policy. This paper presents a hedonic pricing model that quantifies the value of the remnant native vegetation...

Perth, Western Australia (pop. 1.6m) derives 60% of its public water supply from the Gnangara groundwater system (GGS). Horticulture, domestic self-supply, and municipal parks are other major consumers of GGS groundwater. The system supports important wetlands and groundwater-dependent...

Wildfires can cause significant damage to ecosystems, life and property, and wildfire events that do not involve people and property are becoming rare. With the expansion of the rural–urban interface in Western Australia and elsewhere, objectives of life and property protection become more...

The development of a market in groundwater usage rights can be inhibited by constraints arising from the institutional context. Such impediments may reduce the potential gains from trade and may generate high transaction costs for prospective traders. We analyse the regulations and policies...

Policy makers aiming to get private landholders to supply non-marketed environmental services may need to provide efficient economic incentives. Two ideas have been explored to achieve this: linking contract payments to environmental outcomes and submitting the contracts to competitive tender....

Buying environmental services from private landholders using tendering mechanisms are usually subject to a budget constraint. Auction theory has mostly focused on target-constrained auctions and is less well developed for this type of auction. This paper examines a theoretical model specifically...

The success of any groundwater management plan depends on user compliance. There is an intimate relationship between regulatory regimes and pumper perceptions. As well as its enforcement powers, an agency's behavior sends information to users. While enforcement power need not always be used to...

This paper has been published in a peer-reviewed journal as: Kragt, M.E. (2013) Hydro-economic modelling in an uncertain world: Integrating costs and benefits of water quality management. Water Resources and Economics. Online 1 December 2013. DOI: 10.1016/j.wre.2013.11.001