Water trade remains a contentious political issue in Australia, regardless of the acknowledged benefits to which economists continually refer. At least two sources of concern arise in discussions about water trade. First, concerns are often expressed about inter-sectoral ramifications. These...

In most urban cities across Australia, water restrictions remain the dominant policymechanism to restrict urban water consumption. The extensive adoption of waterrestrictions over several years means that Australian urban water prices have consistently not reflected the opportunity cost of water...

In most urban cities across Australia, water restrictions remain the dominant policy mechanism to restrict urban water consumption. The extensive adoption of water restrictions over several years means that Australian urban water prices have consistently not reflected the opportunity cost of...

This paper will briefly describe the history and intent of the NTA 1993; survey outcomes flowing from its implementation, especially in reference to economic implications of agreements between parties; and consider future prospects, particularly by reference to the amended legislation which came...

Many environmental policy issues involve conflicts between nature conservation and economic development. The economic rationale behind deciding among alternative options is predicated on some form of benefit-cost analysis (BCA). Key issues to date have been non-market valuation, the...

Evaluating land use change in economic frameworks often requires non-market values to be assessed. However non-market valuation experiments can be sensitive to the way the trade offs are framed. The aim of the research reported in this paper was to examine the influence of varying the valuation...

Improving smallholder welfare in the rural sectors of developing countries requires improving access to both input and product markets. Success, however, in developing sustainable and mutually beneficial links between smallholders and agribusiness has been variable. Two recent ACIAR studies...

As Australia begins to implement the National Water Initiative, there are lessons to be learned from past experience in rural adjustment and rural assistance schemes. The experience is rich and the messages powerful. Government intervention in the process of adjustment and change can impede,...

This paper examines the influence of public greenspace on the life satisfaction of residents of Australia’s capital cities. A positive relationship is found between the percentage of public greenspace in a resident’s local area and their self-reported life satisfaction. On average, it is...