Sheila Olmstead, Water Resources and Climate Change Adaptation: An Economist’s Perspective, 2015
493 views · Published 1 April 2015 · 1:04:14 · Indexed 4 November 2026
Channel: uwaterloo · 2015 · Education
Climate change will affect both the long-term availability and the short-term variability of water resources in many regions; these impacts are already manifest in some places, through increased frequency and magnitude of droughts and floods, duration of accumulated snowpack, changes in soil moisture and runoff. These physical impacts are uncertain, particularly at fine spatial scales, but societies’ likely behavioral responses to these shifts in hydrological regimes are even more uncertain. Ultimately, it is the combination of physical impacts and behavioral responses that will determine the economic impacts of the changing global climate. Water markets and efficient pricing could move water from low-valued to high-valued uses as the climate changes, mitigating the impacts of increased scarcity in some regions, but little is known about how well these institutions can serve this function, since water is rarely traded in markets. Olmstead draws on her own recent research and that of others to discuss the potential role of water prices and markets, infrastructure projects, and transboundary water treaties in mediating the economic impacts of the changing global climate. March 17, 2015 Sheila Olmstead is an Associate Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin and Visiting Fellow, Resources for the Future
