Is Water Too Cheap? - Freakonomics

Just look at the scarce resources of the planet: Air, water, and land. Not to mention oil, gold, and corn. Things inherent in the Earth or grown on the Earth using other scarce resources are things that have experienced wide swings in price levels in the past and will continue to do so in the future, only in much wilder swings.



As I noted in a post on June 25, 2008, it is my sincere belief that water is next on the horizon. Water demand has consistently outstripped supply on most of the planet from day 1. It's only going to get worse.



My friends at Freakonomics wrote a post entitled, "Is Water Too Cheap?", where they look at this exact issue, from an economics standpoint (econ, after all, is the social science that studies the rationing of scarce resources, predominantly through the pricing mechanism).



So it stands to reason that the price of water will rise as more and more of it is demanded and less and less of it is supplied.



Now put increased water prices in your budget!