Water markets and trading have played a key role in allocating scarce water resources. The flexibility and autonomy offered by water trading has increased agricultural production, helped farmers and communities to survive severe drought, and provided the mechanism for recovering water for the environment. Governments still have a vital role to play in improving the...

This paper considers the potential benefits of market-based instruments, particularly from a property rights perspective. The paper examines two types of market-based instruments – transferable development rights (TDR) and tradeable offsets – that have been utilised in NSW.

The annual Australian water markets reports provide statistics that summarise activity in Australian water markets, together with information on water market structures. The aim of this synthesis report is to analyse trends in market activity (how much water is being traded and where), as well as the drivers influencing market outcomes (why is water being...

The development of Australia's water markets represents a centrepiece of national water reform. Trade in various water products has grown substantially in recent years, with the combined value of markets estimated to be $3 billion in 2009-10. Water markets provide an example of successful national micro-economic reform, ensuring that scarce water resources are most effectively...

Technology innovation is the key to reducing carbon emissions cheaply, according to this report based on the experience of six pollution pricing schemes in Australia and overseas. In each case, costs to reduce pollution, and actual prices, were much lower than governments and their experts expected. Governments consistently got it wrong when picking in advance...