Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Economics Of Water Utilization: Tools And Applications, Matt Bogard

Agriculture Department Seminar Series

Given worldwide problems of access to safe potable water, this presentation examines how tools of economics can aid in drafting appropriate mitigating policies. Utilizing partial equilibrium analysis, it demonstrates the role that prices play in social coordination and then applies the framework to real world examples. In addition it examines Pigouvian Taxation and Coasean Bargaining as two classic methods for dealing with externalities in the context of water pollution. Second-best solutions such as tradable permits and metered pricing by public utilities are discussed. This presentation concludes by examining the issues and challenges that policy makers face when trying to implement …