Authors

Ha Duong Vo 1* , Hong Son Duong 1 , Tra Van Tran 1

Affiliations

1 Water Resources Institute (WRI). Add: 8 Phao Dai Lang Street, Dong Da District, Ha Noi, Viet Nam; haduong.vo@gmail.com; dhson.monre@gmail.com; tranvantra@gmail.com

*Correspondence: haduong.vo@gmail.com; Tel: +84–824968268

Abstracts

Water is essential for human survival and all human activities. It is also widely accepted that there is a growing demand for water due to socio–economic development while there is a shrinking supply due to global climate change. The finiteness and increasing shortage as well as scarcity of water have thus created worldwide water related problems. However, in the past, the management and allocation of water resources global have been far from optimal. Both water quantity and quality have been deteriorating at an alarming rate, and without proper water resources management and allocation practices in place to tackle this situation, water shortage and depletion would be inevitable in the future. The failure of proper management and allocation in the past was mostly attributed to the failure to understand the true nature of water as an economic good. Compounding to the problem, water is a special economic good as it can be both a private and a public good depending on its source and use, thus requiring special market–based mechanisms in place of a pure command–and–control approach in management and allocation. This paper provides up–to–date information on the research of water resources economics through the review of more recent advances in concepts and policies. Through the improved understanding, it is expected that better management practices could be established for the sustainable management and allocation of water. 

Keywords

Water; Water economics; Economic policy; Water management

Cite this paper

Duong, V.H.; Son, D.H.; Tra, T.V. The Economics of Water Resources: A Review of Recent Research. VN. J. Hydrometeorol. 2020, 6, 68-78.

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