David Zetland on Water

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 2 March 2015

⏱️ 60 minutes

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Summary

David Zetland of Leiden University College in the Netherlands and author of Living with Water Scarcity talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the challenges of water management. Issues covered include the sustainability of water supplies, the affordability of water for the poor, the incentives water companies face, and the management of water systems in the poorest countries. Also discussed are the diamond and water paradox, campaigns to reduce water usage, and the role of prices in managing a water system.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:06.4	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:11.0	Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find links
0:16.2	and other information related to today's conversation.
0:19.0	You'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going
0:23.2	back to 2006.
0:25.4	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org.
0:27.4	We'd love to hear from you.
0:32.2	Today is February 24th, 2015, and my guest is David Zetland of Liden University College
0:38.9	in the Netherlands and the author of Living with Water Scarsity.
0:43.3	David, welcome to Econ Talk.
0:44.7	Thanks for asking us for your time to be here.
0:46.7	Our topic for today is water, the stuff of life, and what economics has to say about it.
0:50.8	We'll be talking about your book Living with Water Scarsity, which is available without
0:54.9	charge on the Internet.
0:55.9	We'll put a link up to it.
0:58.2	Many people argue that water is a right, a necessity, and no one should have to pay for it.
1:03.9	What is your response to that?
1:06.4	There's two responses to that.
1:07.6	The first one is that, well, three actually.
1:10.6	The first one is that water might be a right, but getting the water to your house or to your
1:15.4	tap or to your field if you're a farmer is going to cost some money in terms of energy,
	...

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