TY - JOUR
T1 - Rethinking the economics of water
T2 - An assessment
AU - Garrick, Dustin E.
AU - Hanemann, Michael
AU - Hepburn, Cameron
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press. For permissions please e-mail: [email protected].
PY - 2020/3/1
Y1 - 2020/3/1
N2 - Water is rising on the policy agenda as population growth and climate change intensify scarcity, shocks, and access inequalities. The conventional economic policy recommendations - privatization, pricing, and property rights - have struggled due to a failure to account adequately for the politics of water and the associated distributional conflicts. We identify distinctive social and physical characteristics of water supply and demand, and explore their implications for three central areas of water policy: financing infrastructure, pricing, and property rights reform. Growing dependence on groundwater and non-networked water supplies exacerbates these challenges and reinforces the need to rethink the economics of water and tackle the political challenges head on. Meeting the water sustainable development goals would require institutional and technological innovations to supply, allocate, and manage water, as well as a sustained political and financial commitment to address those who might be left behind.
AB - Water is rising on the policy agenda as population growth and climate change intensify scarcity, shocks, and access inequalities. The conventional economic policy recommendations - privatization, pricing, and property rights - have struggled due to a failure to account adequately for the politics of water and the associated distributional conflicts. We identify distinctive social and physical characteristics of water supply and demand, and explore their implications for three central areas of water policy: financing infrastructure, pricing, and property rights reform. Growing dependence on groundwater and non-networked water supplies exacerbates these challenges and reinforces the need to rethink the economics of water and tackle the political challenges head on. Meeting the water sustainable development goals would require institutional and technological innovations to supply, allocate, and manage water, as well as a sustained political and financial commitment to address those who might be left behind.
KW - water economics
KW - water infrastructure
KW - water pricing
KW - water rights
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U2 - 10.1093/oxrep/grz035
DO - 10.1093/oxrep/grz035
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85084474604
SN - 0266-903X
VL - 36
SP - 1
EP - 23
JO - Oxford Review of Economic Policy
JF - Oxford Review of Economic Policy
IS - 1
ER -