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PERC Workshop
Water Markets: Why Not More?
PERC office, Bozeman, Montana
Directed by Terry L. Anderson
Sponsored by the Searle Freedom Trust
with additional funding from
the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust
August 31–September 4, 2009

Introduction

Final agenda
Read workshop papers

Water Markets: Why Not More? is the first in a new series of PERC workshops focused on property rights, markets, and the environment. The workshop will be conducted over the week of August 31-September 4, 2009, during which scholars will present papers on selected topics examining why water markets have not developed further than they have. One paper will be presented each day from 9 to 11 a.m. (first day is an exception). In addition, one morning session will be devoted to a discussion of a revision of the book (by Terry Anderson and Pam Snyder), Water Marketing: Priming the Invisible Pump, which Anderson is revising with PERC research fellows Brandon Scarborough and Reed Watson. Other scholars and graduate students have been invited to participate in the workshop along with resident PERC scholars and others interested in water markets.

The remainder of each day will allow invited participants to work with one another, interact with resident and visiting scholars, work on their own projects, and enjoy Bozeman's natural environment. On the last day of the workshop, we will explore the implication of the discussions for bringing water markets more to the fore.

PERC's workshop series is intended to be a dialogue rather than a series of lectures. In the true spirit of workshops, papers will be available in advance of the workshop and participants will be expected to read the papers and come prepared to discuss them. After the workshop, we will seek opportunities to use the papers and ideas in other PERC publications such as PERC Policy Series and PERC Reports, and to find other venues for publication. In addition, the papers will be posted on PERC's website along with a summary of the final workshop discussion on where further research is needed so as to influence the research agendas of other scholars.

The main purpose of the PERC workshop series is to encourage more environmental scholars to apply the concepts of free market environmentalism and to carry those applications back to their colleagues, students, and their future research.