This book compares water allocation policy in three rivers under pressure from demand, droughts and a changing climate: the Colorado, Columbia and Murray-Darling. Each river has undergone multiple decades of policy reform at the intersection of water markets and river basin governance - two prominent responses to the global water crisis often attempted and analyzed separately. Drawing on concepts and evidence about property rights and transaction costs, this book generates lessons about the factors that enable and constrain more flexible and sustainable approaches for sharing water among users and across political jurisdictions.

Despite over 40 years of interest in water markets as a solution to water scarcity, they have been slow to develop. Intensified competition has also stimulated interest in river basins as the ideal unit to manage conflicts and tradeoffs across jurisdictions, but integration has proven elusive. This book investigates why progress has been slower and more uneven than expected, and it pinpoints the principles and practices associated with both successes and failures. Garrick synthesizes theoretical traditions in public policy and institutional economics, to examine the influence of path dependency and transaction costs on water allocation reform. Using evidence from historical sources, public policy analysis and institutional economics, the book demonstrates that reforms to water rights and transboundary governance arrangements must be combined and complementary to achieve lasting success at multiple scales.

The original approach of this book, and its comparison of three prominent sites of reform, makes it an asset to practitioners of water policy, as well as water governance scholars and academics in public policy and economics who are focused on environmental policy, property rights and institutional change.

About the Author
Dustin Evan Garrick, University of Oxford, UK

Reviews
'This is an excellent book, filled with thoughtful analysis of the challenges and possibilities for sustainable river basin management and illustrated with vitally important cases from which we all can learn. Dustin Garrick weaves historical, institutional, and economic analysis together in a readable volume that is immensely valuable for anyone interested in natural resource policy and management.' -- William Blomquist, Indiana University - Purdue University, Indianapolis, US
'This book is a stand out. It shines a light on a public policy question of critical importance: how to generate solutions to poor water governance and make a difference for people who share scarce freshwater resources? It is a book that everyone should read to learn lessons from the Western US and Southeast Australia - two regions with a long history of tackling difficult water planning and allocation challenges.' -- R. Quentin Grafton, The Australian National University
'Water Allocation in Rivers Under Pressure represents a comprehensive synthesis of insights about water management institutions, spanning centuries, continents, and disciplines. Dustin Garrick is able to understand and communicate the full complexity of the physical and social factors that make water allocation such a "wicked problem." Based on his comparative analysis of three river basins, Garrick develops nuanced institutional design recommendations that lead to adaptive efficiency. This book is a valuable resource for those who make water policy and for those who research it.' -- Laura McCann, University of Missouri, US
'Dustin Garrick provides us with an inspiring landmark study of water allocation problems in highly stressed river basins. In a deeply reflected way, he pushes forward the scientific contribution of transaction costs analysis and diagnostics of polycentric governance in regard to addressing and understanding natural resource management problems worldwide.' -- Andreas Thiel, Humboldt University, Germany



Book Information
ISBN 9781781003855
Author Dustin Evan Garrick
Format Hardback
Page Count 256
Imprint Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd
Publisher Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd