Three Essays On Us Water Rights Markets

This dissertation is composed of three essays that analyze different issues concerning water markets in the U.S. The first essay investigates whether water rights markets in the U.S. are efficient, and compares them to other natural resource markets. The second essay measures the welfare gains from transferring water to different uses and examines whether these gains are higher or lower under water stress. The third essay identifies existing barriers to efficient water rights trading by analyzing the institutional characteristics of various markets in Colorado and Texas. The focus of this dissertation is on the efficiency of water rights markets, and whether these markets can be an effective instrument in managing varying water supply resources in the western U.S.