Comparing Price and Non-Price Approaches to Urban Water Conservation

Sheila M. Olmstead and Robert Norman Stavins

No 14147, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Urban water conservation is typically achieved through prescriptive regulations, including the rationing of water for particular uses and requirements for the installation of particular technologies. A significant shift has occurred in pollution control regulations toward market-based policies in recent decades. We offer an analysis of the relative merits of market-based and prescriptive approaches to water conservation, where prices have rarely been used to allocate scarce supplies. The analysis emphasizes the emerging theoretical and empirical evidence that using prices to manage water demand is more cost-effective than implementing non-price conservation programs, similar to results for pollution control in earlier decades. Price-based approaches also have advantages in terms of monitoring and enforcement. In terms of predictability and equity, neither policy instrument has an inherent advantage over the other. As in any policy context, political considerations are important.

JEL-codes: L95 Q25 Q28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-env
Date: 2008-06
Note: EEE IO LE PE
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Working Paper: Comparing Price and Non-price Approaches to Urban Water Conservation (2008)
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