ABSTRACT
Water provides benefits as a commodity for agriculture, industry, and households, and as a public good such as fisheries habitat, water quality and recreational use. To aid in cost-benefit analysis under conditions where market determined price signals are usually unavailable, economists have developed a range of alternative valuation methods for measuring economic benefits.
This volume provides the most comprehensive exposition to-date of the application of economic valuation methods to proposed water resources investments and policies. It provides a conceptual framework for valuation of both commodity and public good uses of water, addressing non-market valuation techniques appropriate to measuring public benefits - including water quality improvement, recreation, and fish habitat enhancement. The book describes the various measurement methods, illustrates how they are applied in practice, and discusses their strengths, limitations, and appropriate roles.
In this second edition, all chapters have been thoroughly updated, and in particular the coverage of water markets and valuation of ecosystem services from water has been expanded. Robert Young, author of the 2005 edition, has been joined for this new edition by John Loomis, who brings additional expertise on ecosystem services and the environmental economics of water for recreational and other public good uses of water.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |46 pages
Concepts and theory
chapter |20 pages
Water, Economics, and the Nature of Water Policy Issues
chapter |24 pages
Conceptual Framework and Special Problems in Valuing Water
part |98 pages
Methods for Valuing Producers' and Consumers' Values of Water
chapter |58 pages
Methods for Valuing Producers' Uses of Water
chapter |38 pages
Applied Methods of Valuation of Water-related Ecosystem Services
part |144 pages
Applications of Valuation Methods