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Our mission

Director's Notes

Research associates

Publications

Projects

Welcome to the Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy (CWEEP)

To be a leading applied research centre on water economics and water policy in Australia, the Asia-Pacific, and globally.

DIRECTOR'S NOTES 

 

Paul Wyrwoll
Paul Wyrwoll

Welcome to CWEEP! As the acronym implies this centre has a key goal to have a wider and holistic perspective of the world in terms of water so that we can see better and further and to respond to water-related problems. The centre was officially launched in February 2010 and since then we have organized several workshops on water issues, including three separate workshops on water reform in reference to the Murray-Darling Basin. We also have a working paper series

Research associates
Angela Arthington
Angela Arthington

Angela Arthington

An Aquatic Ecologist with a wide knowledge of freshwater biology, flow-ecology relationships and processes in rivers and floodplains, lake ecology/limnology, impacts of land-use, flow regulation.
Henning Bjornlund
Henning Bjornlund

Henning Bjornlund

Henning has been involved in water policy research since 1992. Henning is also an Associate Professor at the University of Lethbridge, where he holds a Canadian Research Chair in Water and the Economy - International.
Daniel Connell
Daniel Connell

Daniel Connell

Dr Daniel Connell is a research fellow at The Australian National University in the Crawford School of Economics and Government and the ANU Water Initiative.
Jeff Connor
Jeff Connor

Jeff Connor

Dr Connor identifies opportunities to improve economic, social and environmental outcomes for natural resource management issues through assessment of policy option costs, benefits and tradeoffs.
Steven Cork
Steven Cork

Steven Cork

Steven Cork is an ecologist and futurist. He spent 25 years in CSIRO researching the nutritional ecology of plant-eating animals and interactions between biodiversity and human welfare. 
Katherine Daniell
Katherine Daniell

Katherine Daniell

Katherine Daniell is a Research Fellow in the ANU's Centre for Policy Innovation. Her current research focusses on resolving the challenges associated with implementing multi-level participatory processes to bring about coordinated policy.
Steve Dovers
Steve Dovers

Stephen Dovers

Professor Steve Dovers is Director of The Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANU. His research and teaching activities are in the policy and institutional aspects of environment and sustainability.
Diane Dupont
Diane Dupont

Diane Dupont

Diane Dupont holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of British Columbia. She is a Professor in the Economics Department at Brock University where she held the Chancellor's Chair for Research Excellence from 2006-2009.
Kevin Fox
Kevin Fox

Kevin Fox

Kevin Fox works primarily in the field of economic measurement, with a focus on productivity, prices and efficiency analysis. His research spans multiple areas of environmental and natural resource management, including water, fisheries.
John Freebairn
John Freebairn

John Freebairn

After graduating with a PhD from the University of California (Davis) in 1972, John Freebairn worked at the NSW Department of Agriculture until 1974 where he was senior economist.
Dustin Garrick
Dustin Garrick

Dustin Garrick

Dustin Garrick is a Fulbright Scholar (2010-11) in CSIRO's Water for Healthy Country Flagship and a Postdoctoral Fellow in Water Security at the University of Oxford as of May 2011.
Neil Gunningham
Neil Gunningham

Neil Gunningham

Neil Gunningham is a Professor within the Fenner School of Environment and Society and the Regulatory Institutions Network, at The Australian National University.
Gregory Hertzler
Gregory Hertzler

Gregory Hertzler

Gregory is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia, a Principal Research Fellow and Associate Professor at the University of Sydney and an Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria.
Karen Hussey
Karen Hussey

Karen Hussey

Dr Hussey is the ANU Vice-Chancellor's Representative in Europe, and is based in Brussels with responsibility for developing the University's research relationships with European research teams and institutions.
Sue Jackson
Sue Jackson

Sue Jackson

Sue Jackson is a senior social scientist with CSIRO's Sustainable Ecosystems in Darwin. She is a geographer with over fifteen years experience in Indigenous natural resource management, environmental planning and social impact assessment.
Tom Kompas
Tom Kompas

Tom Kompas

 Tom Kompas is the Director of the Crawford School of Public Policy and Professor of Economics at the Australian National University (ANU).
Gary Libecap
Gary Libecap

Gary Libecap

Gary is a Donald Bren Distinguished Professor of Corporate Environmental Management, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management and Department of Economics, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Amanda Lynch
Amanda Lynch

Amanda Lynch

Prof. Amanda Lynch FTSE is interested in the intersections between climate science research and concrete problems of policy relevance. Her approaches have included climate model development, weather simulation and analysis.
Céline Nauges
Céline Nauges

Céline Nauges

Céline Nauges is a senior researcher at the French Institute for Research in Agriculture (INRA) and Toulouse School of Economics (France). 
William Nikolakis
William Nikolakis

William Nikolakis

William is currently a postdoctoral fellow with the Crawford School of Economics and Government at The Australian National University (ANU).
Jamie Pittock
Jamie Pittock

Jamie Pittock

Jamie Pittock trained in zoology and geography at Monash University, Australia. From 1989-2001 he was employed by a number of non-government environmental groups in Australia.
John Quiggin
John Quiggin

John Quiggin

John Quiggin is a Federation Fellow in Economics and Political Science at the University of Queensland. He is prominent both as a research economist and as a commentator on Australian economic policy.
Ejaz Qureshi
Ejaz Qureshi

Ejaz Qureshi

Dr Ejaz Qureshi has extensive experience in natural resources and environmental management, specifically in integrated biophysical-economic modelling.
Hugh Sibly
Hugh Sibly

Hugh Sibly

Hugh Sibly is a senior lecturer in the School of Economics and Finance, University of Tasmania. Hugh's research lies broadly in the areas of pricing He has a particular interest in the pricing of natural resources.
Caroline Sullivan
Caroline Sullivan

Caroline Sullivan

Dr Caroline Sullivan is an environmental economist who has worked in international water research for over 12 years. She has worked on interdisciplinary water projects in several countries in Africa, the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Richard Tooth
Richard Tooth

Richard Tooth

Dr Richard Tooth is a consulting principal with the Sydney office of LECG Limited. Dr Tooth has consulted and written extensively on economic policy issues.
Michael Ward
Michael Ward

Michael Ward

Michael Ward is Associate Professor of Economics at the ANU Crawford School, having earned his PhD in economics at the University of Washington.
Sarah Wheeler
Sarah Wheeler

Sarah Wheeler

Sarah is a Senior Research Fellow with the Centre for Regulation and Market Analysis, in the School of Commerce, University of South Australia. She has worked as a natural resource economist in a number of organisations around the world.
John Williams
John Williams

John Williams

John is one of Australia's most respected scientists, and has led the national debate about sustainable land management. Prior to joining the NRC in 2006

Publications

R.Quentin Grafton and Michael B. Ward, (2008), 'Prices versus Rationing: Marshallian Surplus and Mandatory Water Restrictions', The Econimic Record, Vol. 84, SPecial Issue, pp. S57-65

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Daniel Connell and R Quentin Grafton, (2008), 'Planning for Water Security in the Murray-Darling Basin', Public Policy, Vol. 3, pp. 67-86

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R. Quentin Grafton and Tom Kompas, (2007), 'Pricing Sydney water', The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Vol. 51, pp. 227–241

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R.Q. Grafton and K. Hussey, (2007), 'Buying back the living Murray: at what price?', Australian Journal of Environmental Management, Vol. 14, pp. 74-81

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R Quentin Grafton and Deborah Peterson, (2007), 'Water trading and pricing', Managing water for Australia: The social and institutional challenges, Chapter 6, pp. 73-84

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Projects

crawford building

Water buybacks and water reform in the Murray-Darling Basin

The Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) suffered its worst ever recorded drought that ended in 2010 and had devastating impact on communities, agriculture and the environment. This water crisis led to important water reforms over the past decade including: the 2004 National Water Initiative, the Water Act 2007 and the 2008 Water for the Future package. Full integration of these worthy initiatives, with particular attention to: (1) society and communities; (2) the economics of water reform; and (3) the long-term sustainability of the environment offers the promise of a viable future for those who work and enjoy the benefits of living in the MDB.

This project is a close collaboration between the Director of CWEEP, Professor R. Quentin Grafton, and the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.
Using the existing literature and some additional modelling, an economic assessment of the Basin will be provided in terms of the:

  1. Effects of the current drought and water trading;
  2. Water diversions;
  3. Economic effects of water buybacks;
  4. Economic effects of water buybacks versus investments in on-farm irrigation efficiency; and
  5. Economic effects of climate change.