Water is an economic good: How to use prices to promote equity, efficiency, and sustainability

In 1992 the Dublin Water Principles claimed ‘‘water as an economic good’ ’ for the first time in a UN setting. But water has been recognized as an economic good for many centuries before 1992. Throughout Europe and the early United States private water supply companies thrived in a wide variety of settings. The ‘‘sanitary revolution’ ’ of the 19th century saw the demand for publi