Skip to main content
Book cover
  • Textbook
  • Open Access
  • © 2021

The Economics of Water

Rules and Institutions

Authors:

  1. Georg Meran

    1. Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin), Berlin, Germany

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Markus Siehlow

    1. Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin), Berlin, Germany

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  3. Christian von Hirschhausen

    1. German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin), Berlin, Germany

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Offers a comprehensive textbook on water economics

  • Introduces key economic approaches and mathematical methods for the study of water scarcity

  • Combines the technical fundamentals of the hydrological cycle with economic allocation rules

  • Assesses the political and ethical dimensions of water management

Part of the book series: Springer Water (SPWA)

Sections

Softcover Book USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Hardcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
    PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Georg Meran, Markus Siehlow, Christian von Hirschhausen
    Pages 1-7Open Access

  3. Water Availability: A Hydrological View

    • Georg Meran, Markus Siehlow, Christian von Hirschhausen
    Pages 9-21Open Access

  4. Integrated Water Resource Management: Principles and Applications

    • Georg Meran, Markus Siehlow, Christian von Hirschhausen
    Pages 23-121Open Access

  5. Water Tariffs

    • Georg Meran, Markus Siehlow, Christian von Hirschhausen
    Pages 123-184Open Access

  6. Water Markets

    • Georg Meran, Markus Siehlow, Christian von Hirschhausen
    Pages 185-207Open Access

  7. Transboundary Water Resource Management

    • Georg Meran, Markus Siehlow, Christian von Hirschhausen
    Pages 209-293Open Access

  8. Back Matter

    Pages 295-301
    PDF
Back to top

About this book

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.

Back to top

Keywords

  • Water economics
  • Sustainable water management
  • Water engineering
  • Hydro-economic models
  • Affordable water tariffs
  • Eco-hydrology
  • Human rights to water
  • Water recycling
  • Open Access book
  • Climate change
  • water policy
  • water quality and water pollution
Back to top

Authors and Affiliations

  • Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin), Berlin, Germany

    Georg Meran, Markus Siehlow

  • German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin), Berlin, Germany

    Christian von Hirschhausen

Back to top

About the authors

Georg Meran is a Professor of Environmental Economics at Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin), Germany, and Research Fellow at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), Germany, specializing in applied microeconomic and institutional aspects of water. He holds a PhD from the Free University of Berlin, and has served as Dean of the DIW Berlin Graduate Center for Economic and Social Sciences (2004 – 2010), and as Dean of Studies at the Faculty of Economics and Management, Technical University of Berlin (2008 – present). Prof. Meran has published extensively on various environmental issues, allocation of water rights, pricing, nudging, energy economics, regulation issues, etc. He teaches an undergraduate course on fundamentals of environmental and resource economics, courses on advanced environmental economics as well as ecological economics, and a course on water economics, the content of which provides the basis for this textbook.
 
Markus Siehlow is a Senior Researcher at the Workgroup of Environmental Economics at Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin). His specialization is in the field of water economics, such as transboundary water management and industrial economics of the water sector. He works also on the field of resource, ecological and environmental economics. Together with Georg Meran, he gives courses in these economic disciplines. His PhD thesis focus on the topic of hydro-economic modeling, where methods from Operations Research are applied to the water sector.  
 
Christian von Hirschhausen is a Professor of Infrastructure Economics at Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin), Germany, and Research Director at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), Germany. His research covers various infrastructure sectors, e.g., water, transportation and energy. His most recent publications have been on regulatory issues and pricing, and include a compilation on “Water - Economics and Management of a Key Resource” (DIW Berlin, 2010).

Back to top

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Economics of Water

  • Book Subtitle: Rules and Institutions

  • Authors: Georg Meran, Markus Siehlow, Christian von Hirschhausen

  • Series Title: Springer Water

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48485-9

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Economics and Finance, Economics and Finance (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2021

  • License: CC BY

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-48484-2Published: 05 September 2020

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-48487-3Published: 06 September 2021

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-48485-9Published: 04 September 2020

  • Series ISSN: 2364-6934

  • Series E-ISSN: 2364-8198

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVII, 301

  • Number of Illustrations: 33 b/w illustrations, 36 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Natural Resource and Energy Economics, Water, Pollution

Back to top
Softcover Book USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Hardcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions