Survey data from 10 OECD countries are used to model household water demand. Statistically significant results include: (1) an inelastic average price response is estimated for every country; (2) households not charged volumetrically consume more water than households that are; (3) household...

Alternatives to the current buy-back of water entitlements by the government in the Murray Darling Basin are assessed using multiple criteria based on the western U.S. experience, real options theory, scenario analysis and policy adoption criteria. This analysis suggests the following benefits...

Although fresh water is abundant at a global level, only a tiny amount, less than 0.3 %, is easily accessible for human use (Dinar et al., 2007). An increasing amount of this water is utilized, with global water withdrawals tripling since 1950. Presently, 70 % of the world’s population lives...

The paper reviews current water reforms and initiatives in the Murray-Darling Bain from an economic perspective. It argues that while the principles (National Water Initiative) and rules (Water Act 2007) of water reform provide the framework to achieve the goals of reform, the financial...

This previously unpublished study was undertaken in 2006/7 with funding support provided by Land and Water Australia. (Its working title was ‘The Sustainability of Sustainable Limits to Extractions – informing the National Water Initiative’). The focus of the paper is on the debate about...

This report describes the first stage of a project that is comparing water governance in southern Australia, South Africa, south-west USA and Spain. The river systems examined are subject to highly variable climates and have a long history of drought management. Underlying assumptions are that...

Extraction from a common pool resource may result in a divergence between competitive and optimal rates of extraction. This paper develops a theoretical model to estimate the size of the payoffs from this divergence under alternative spatial representations. Results show that when a resource is...

Many urban communities are considering infrastructure investments to augment their water supply in response to actual or expected shortages due to weather variability and, in some cases, due to climate change. To address short-term imbalances between supply and demand, water utilities frequently...

A key challenge in managing semi-arid Basins, such as in the Murray-Darling in Australia, is to balance the trade-offs between the net benefits of allocating water for irrigated agriculture, and other uses, versus the costs of reduced surface flows for the environment. Typically, water planners...