Call for Papers: Teaching Water Economics

CALL FOR PAPERS
Special Issue:

Contemporary Adjustments Needed to Teaching Water Economics in Light of Challenges Facing the Water Sector and its Users

Guest Editors:
Ariel Dinar and Mehdi Nemati, School of Public Policy, University of California, Riverside.

Water Economics has been taught for many decades at undergraduate and graduate levels. Teaching approaches included the traditional profit/utility-maximizing agents' behavior (farmers, households) where individuals decide the allocation of a given amount of water among consuming activities. Main issues such as availability, allocation, pricing, investment, technology, and management of water resources have been at the forefront of the field of water economics. In recent decades, water resources worldwide have seen many transformations both locally and globally, making the challenges facing water-using agents much more complicated and, as a result, higher skills are needed for the tools and methods they employ.

The water sector has experienced increased levels of climate change-induced water scarcity, frequent and longer droughts, water quality deterioration, human health implications, infrastructure fatigue, increased competition over dwindling resources, conflicts, globalization, and more. These issues have various implications for water managers and users in each sector (i.e., agricultural, environmental, and urban). In addition, new water sources have been introduced in recent years, such as ocean and brackish groundwater desalinated water, treated wastewater, and flood water. In addition, several management practices have been introduced, including joint (cooperative) management of various types of open-access water sources.

Does the water (resource) economics curriculum used in our classes address such challenges and skill needs? Does it allow a proper education and training of the next generation of water economists?

This AETR Special Issue will address whether or not the water economics curriculum is ready to cope with the increased level of challenges regarding water quantity, quality, security, and derived complications. Papers in the special issue will also propose examples of how to introduce tools and class activities that address such new challenges to the water economics curriculum.

Manuscripts submitted for consideration in the special issue will address theoretical and practical experiences of the authors in the class and suggested approaches they have introduced. Manuscripts will follow the journal guidelines (https://www.aaea.org/publications/applied-economics-teaching-resources/aetr-manuscript-submission-guidelines). Manuscripts will be subject to a doubl-blind peer review process. Deadline for submission is August 31, 2022. Papers should be submitted through the online submission form (https://www.aaea.org/publications/applied-economics-teaching-resources/submissions). Accepted papers will be published first online, until the special issue is complete. Planned publication date of the special issue is early 2023.

For more information, please approach Ariel Dinar (adinar@ucr.edu) or Mehdi Nemati (mehdin@ucr.edu).