Overview

Water is becoming increasingly scarce. If recent usage trends continue, shortages are inevitable. Aquanomics discusses some of the instruments and policies that may be implemented to postpone, or even avoid, the onset of ""water crises."" These policies include establishing secure and transferable private water rights and extending these rights to uses that traditionally have not been allowed, including altering in-stream flows and ecosystem functions. The editors argue that such policies will help maximize water quantity and quality as water becomes scarcer and more valuable. Aquanomics contains many examples of how this is being accomplished, particularly in the formation of water markets and market-like exchanges of water rights. Many observers see calamity ahead unless water supplies are harnessed and effectively conserved, and unless water quality can be improved. It is also clear that declining water quality is a serious problem in much of the world, as increasing human activities induce high levels of water degradation. Those who voice these concerns, argue the contributors to this volume, fail to consider the forces for improvement inherent in market political-economic systems that can address water issues. The contributors see water quality in economically advanced countries as improving, and they believe this establishes the validity of market-based approaches.

Full Product Details

Author:   Randy Simmons ,  Randy T. Simmons
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Inc
Imprint:   Routledge
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.790kg
ISBN:  

9781412845786

ISBN 10:   1412845785
Pages:   426
Publication Date:   15 April 2012
Audience:   College/higher education ,  General/trade ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Reviews

<p> We cannot walk away from the threats to water quantity and quality that the authors of the chapters in this book lay out clearly--as well as analyzing many of the institutional arrangements that academics and policy makers are contemplating. While it is not fun to read about these severe problems, we must face up to them and this book does so clearly and with substantial depth. <p> --Elinor Ostrom, Nobel Laureate in economic science; Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science and co-director, Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University; founding director, Center for the Study of Institutional Diversity, Arizona State University <p> Aquanomics provides clear and crucial understanding of the steps that must be taken to bring discipline to public policies about a misunderstood resource . . . Aquanomics reveals the enormous ecological and economic benefits of bringing property rights to water. As with any other resource, if people own water it will be protected. <p> --Roger E. Meiners, John and Judy Goolsby Distinguished Professor of Economics and Law, University of Texas at Arlington <p> The authors discuss and illustrate with case studies the economic and political transaction costs of water transfers, and suggest ways to overcome the impediments. This book is essential reading for those wishing to understand water markets and advance more sensible public policies. <p> --Lee J. Alston, professor and director of the Institutions Program, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado <p> The strength of the volume is that the authors are united in trying to explain how much of the present waste and misallocation could be prevented by replacing myriad federal and state regulations with markets. While the authors' diagnoses and remedies are not all the same, most of them are based on data and make strong cases. <p> --Anthony Scott, University of Toronto <p> Aquanomics is wide ranging and the authors are first-rate scho

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Randy Simmons

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