R. Maria Saleth - Böcker

Including work by some of the world's leading economists, engineers, ecologists and social scientists, Water Resources and Economic Development is a unique collection due to its global perspectives and specific focus upon the recent experiences of the developing regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America.It explores important topics such as basin and regional development, irrigation and agricultural development, water supply, sanitation and health, legal and institutional issues, water pricing and water markets, and policy trends and emerging issues.This authoritative volume will be an invaluable source for students, researchers and policymakers and also for those who would like to be more informed in this key area of development studies.

This outstanding new book provides the most detailed and comprehensive evaluation of water reform and water sector performance from the perspectives of institutional economics and political economy. Skilfully integrating institutional theory with resource economics, and set against an exhaustive review of the theoretical and empirical literature, the authors develop an alternative methodology to quantitatively assess the performance of institutions in the context of water. This methodology is built on the principle of 'institutional ecology', the 'institutional decomposition and analysis' framework, and the 'subjective theory' of institutional change. Using this new methodology, plus information collected through an international survey of 127 water experts, the authors present a detailed empirical analysis of the process of institution-performance interaction in the water sector. Relying on the institutional transaction cost approach and an extensive cross-country review of recent water sector reforms, they also provide evidence on the relative role of various factors which influence the extent and depth of water institutional reforms in 43 countries and regions around the world. The book concludes with far reaching implications for the theory and policy of water sector reform in particular and institutional reform in general. Unique and up-to-date, this book offers an authoritative review of the important linkages between institutions and performance both in general and water sector contexts. By laying the foundations for future research and policy in this field, it will be of particular relevance and value for institutional economists, natural resource and environmental economists, political scientists, policymakers, donor agencies and students and scholars working on water-related issues.

This book explores inclusive development in the Indian context, not only within each of the country’s major economic and social sectors, but also across countries in the particular context of globalization.