The book details the innovative TERM (The Enormous Regional Model) approach to regional and national economic modeling, and explains the conversion from a comparative-static to a dynamic model. It moves on to an adaptation of TERM to water policy, including the additional theoretical and database requirements of the dynamic TERM-H2O model. In particular, it examines the contrasting economic impacts of water buyback policy and recurring droughts in the Murray-Darling Basin. South-east Queensland, where climate uncertainty has been borne out by record-breaking drought and the worst floods in living memory, provides a chapter-length case study. The exploration of the policy background and implications of TERM’s dynamic modeling will provide food for thought in policy making circles worldwide, where there is a pressing need for solutions to similarly intractable problems in water management.

A comprehensive introduction to the economics of water management, for engineers and natural scientists as well as economists, with self-contained treatment of all necessary economic concepts.

This Special Issue opens a new field of research in certain emerging innovative instruments, because it provides an in-depth revision of the main aspects of institutions and instruments available for the management and governance of droughts and water scarcity. The key aspects that institutions may tackle not only include the increasing water scarcity in many regions around the world but also the increasing frequency and impact of droughts on economic and natural systems. Some of the included papers analyze critical issues, such as the state and future trends of water markets; the estimation of transaction costs when dealing with drought management; and the use of new instruments, such as insurance and water-rights entitlements, which include water security, water-pricing effects on the whole basin level, and intra- and inter-sectorial re-allocation. The important issues regarding non-conventional water supply and the governance of the new resources also feature as the focus of some of the contributions.

This open access textbook provides a concise introduction to economic approaches and mathematical methods for the study of water allocation and distribution problems. Written in an accessible and straightforward style, it discusses and analyzes central issues in integrated water resource management, water tariffs, water markets, and transboundary water management. By illustrating the interplay between the hydrological cycle and the rules and institutions that govern today’s water allocation policies, the authors develop a modern perspective on water management. Moreover, the book presents an in-depth assessment of the political and ethical dimensions of water management and its institutional embeddedness, by discussing distribution issues and issues of the enforceability of human rights in managing water resources. Given its scope, the book will appeal to advanced undergraduate and graduate students of economics and engineering, as well as practitioners in the water sector, seeking a deeper understanding of economic approaches to the study of water management.

This publication examines issues of water sector reform and performance from the perspectives of institutional economics and political economic studies. The authors develop an alternative quantitative assessment methodology based on the principle of 'institutional ecology', as well as data collected from 127 water experts from 43 countries and regions around the world using a cross-country review of recent water sector reforms within an institutional transaction cost framework.