The Economics of Groundwater Governance Institutions across the Globe

Abstract

Abstract This article provides an economic framework for understanding the emergence and purpose of groundwater governance across the globe. We examine ten basins located on six continents via an integrated assessment along three dimensions: characteristics of the groundwater resource; externality problems; and governance institutions. Groundwater governance addresses local externalities to balance the benefits of reducing common pool losses with the costs of doing so. While broad, basin‐wide solutions to open access pumping are limited, spatially localized externality problems raise the benefits of management actions, allowing for the implementation of more stringent pumping controls in certain areas.