About David Zetland
Quick bio: David Zetland is a senior water economist in the Department of Environmental Economics and Natural Resources at Wageningen University in the Netherlands where he is working on an EU-funded project, "Evaluating Economic Policy Instruments for Sustainable Water Management in Europe." David received his PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from UC Davis in 2008. He was a S.v. Ciriacy-Wantrup Postdoctoral Fellow in Natural Resource Economics and Political Economy at UC Berkeley from 2008 to 2010. He blogs on water, economics and politics at aguanomics.com and is the author of The End of Abundance: economic solutions to water scarcity (2011).
more... Before getting his PhD, David worked at startups and non-profits. He has traveled in 80 countries.
Note: The most common mistake people make is misspelling the blog name. It's aGuanomics not aQuanomics.
Curriculum Vitae: Here [PDF]
Photo: (hi-res jpg right click to save)
Media Archive
Audio/video (also see my water chats and talks -- duplication possible!)
Dec 9: "Sharing trans-boundary rivers (wrt China, in particular)" on BBC1 (at 8:18)
Nov 9: "At Issue with Ben Merens on End of Abundance" at WPR (Wisconsin Public Radio) (60 min audio) [MP3 backup]
Nov 8: "Can Milwaukee become the Silicon Valley of water?" at WBEZ Chicago (6:40 audio plus transcript) [MP3 backup]
Oct 5: "Raise prices to save water in San Diego" on [right wing crazy] KOGO radio (10 min)
Sep 28: "Agricultural Flows and Water Markets" on the Water Channel (50 min)
Sep 19: "Water innovation in Milwaukee" on Fox 6 news (at 1:20 for 15 sec)
Jul 20: "Unsustainable groundwater management" (via telephone) to members of the National Ground Water Association (30 min audio)
Jul 12: "Remaking the Water Market" on Benzinga Radio.
Apr 19: "on water and human rights" for ARD of Germany (8 min audio)
Jan 28 2011: "How well are politicians and regulators managing water supplies?" (1 hr talk + Q&A)
Dec 8: "Footprints or mis-steps?" at the Business and Water Conference (11:10 audio + slides)
Nov 24: "David Zetland, author of The End of Abundance" by the Pulitzer Center (5 min video)
Oct 27: "The Political Economy of Water" at Council for Strategic and International Studies (1 hr video)
Oct 16: "Should we privatize water?" on Radio Free Markets (46:30 audio)
Oct 5 2010: "Hear why home-price indexes are misleading" at Lansner on Real Estate (OC Register)
Nov 4: Comments on California water legislation [MP3] at KCBS (4:14 audio)
Oct 15: Personal, Communal, and Political Dimensions of Sustainability: A Conversation with David Zetland [MP3] (one hr audio)
Oct 2: Post-film Q & A [MP3] (56 min audio)
Sep 23: On-air Q&A [MP3] at KFCF (20 min audio)
Jul 22: Comment on Pacific Institute's report at KCBS (4:09 mp3 lost)
Jul 15: Raise prices [MP3] at KJZZ (1:35 audio)
Apr 21: Raise prices at KSRO (4 min audio)
Apr 20: Raise prices at KCBS (4:36 audio) [2MB MP3]
No Water Shortage at KFMB (one min audio plus video)
Mar 2: California's Water Crisis (panel) at KALW (one-hour audio) [28MB MP3]
Feb 8: An Integrated Solution to Water Shortage at BIL (20 min audio)
Feb 5: Four Things You should Know about Water at BRAF (20 min video, in three parts)
Jan 15 2009: Overview: A Year of Water at Bloomberg on the Economy (26 min audio) [12MB MP3]
Dec 13: Water and Urban Agriculture at B-ISA (15 min video lost)
Jul 17 2008: There is No Water Shortage [video lost] at Fox Business News (3 minute video)
My writing elsewhere (not including many comments/discussions on the internet)
Oct 14: "Southern California's real water problem -- pricing" in The San Diego Union Tribune.
Sep: "Global water tariffs continue upward trend" in Global Water Intelligence 12(9): 35-40.
Sep: "Irrigation: Not as wasteful as it seems" [PDF] in Water Canada.
Jul 11 2011: "Regulation: an acceptable cost for frackers" in Petroleum Economist.
Nov 22: "Do smaller water footprints lead to bigger profits?" at The Guardian's Sustainable Business water blog
Oct 18: "Addicted to Misery" at aidwatchers.com
July 25: "Water Rights and Human Rights: The Poor Will Not Need Our Charity if We Need Their Water" in Global Water Program Magazine 1(1)
April 2010: "Water Rights and Human Rights" in Forbes 185(6): 24
May: "Market profile: California's Water Crisis" in Global Water Intelligence 10(5): 29-32. Free PDF
May/Jun 2009: "Can we rely on technology to guarantee future water resources?" [PDF] in Canadian Water Treatment
Sep 9 & 11: "The Economics of Clean Water: A Guest Post" and "Oil and Water: A Guest Post" at freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com
Aug 11-15: Coase in Action, Resources and Population, Conversation with My Dad (part two), Food or Subdivision?, Rich and Clean, Water in Iraq at env-econ.net
Jul 15: "The Water Shortage Myth" at Forbes.com
May 26-30 2008: Water Wars, Investing in Water, Drive Less?, Who's Your Daddy?, Was Julian Simon Right about the Wrong Thing? and A Pause for Thought at env-econ.net
Oct 2005: "Free Trade Can Be Fair Trade" [PDF] in Natural Choices: The Davis Co-op Newsletter; a modified version [pdf] was published in Global View.
I am quoted elsewhere
Nov 11: "Water Auctions and Participatory Water Management" at the The Nexus Blog Mar: "Water Wars, War of the Well, and Guerilla Well-fare" [PDF]
in Groundwater News and Views
Oct 2: "Modesto Irrigation District weighs selling water to SF" in The Modesto Bee
Sep 13: "AB 134 Boils State Wastewater Market" at Cal Watchdog.com
Aug 29: "Brownback Urges Reforms to Preserve Ogallala Aquifer" in The Heartlender
May 23: "The drought is over, but water prices escalate" in The Press-Enterprise
May 21 2011: "Transparency paramount in government" in the Contra Costa Times
Nov 29: "Water Footprinting to Deal With Demand for Supplies" in the International Herald Tribune/New York Times
Nov 19: "China searches for best medicine for ailing scientific journals" in Canadian Medical Association Journal
Nov 12: "Brown's Job Got Twice as Hard" at Cal Watchdog.com
Oct 3: "Dam study: Safety vs. water needs" in the Long Beach Press Telegram
Sep 3: "California Board Recommends Reducing River Water Diversion" at Environment & Climate News
Aug 13: "Kill your lawn" at Sacramento News & Review
Jun 21: "Another economic dip coming?" at Cal Watchdog.com
May 31: "Green-job future a fraud" at Cal Watchdog.com
Mar 16: "Water supply increases for Contra Costa; drought restrictions likely to end" in the Contra Costa Times
Mar: "Our fruits and vegetables at risk?" [in French] in Magazine Jobboom (Canada).
NB: I did not say that no money has been spent on levees since 1970; they spent $90 million on Jones in 2003!
Jan 2010: "Talking with David Zetland about California's water shortage" at hoboagogo.com
Oct: "Interview with David Zetland" [PDF] in Rhodes College Sou'wester
Sep/Oct: "Dollars and Sense: How We Pay For Water" in Western Water
Sep 30: "Are we running dry?" in The Collegean (CSU Fresno)"
Sep 24: "Who has a spare $1m to prove that water can float?" in The National
(Abu Dhabi)
Sep 17: "Talking with David Zetland about California's water shortage" in The River News Herald (Rio Vista, CA)
Jul/Aug: "It'd be easy to conserve water if it weren't so damn cheap" [$] in Mother Jones
Summer: "Running Dry" in Terrain (UC Berkeley)
May 11: "Nation's largest desal project faces financing hurdles" in the New York Times
Apr 20: "As we use less, we could pay more for water" in the SF Chronicle
Mar 31 2009: "Is your water too cheap?" in the Albuquerque Journal
Nov 20: "DWR warns of drought, water rationing in" in the Capitol Weekly
Oct 1: "Ebb without Flow: Water May Be the New Oil in a Thirsty Global Economy" in Knowledge@Wharton
Sep 13: "Think Tank Solutions Run Dry in Our Valley" in the Modesto Bee
Jul 22: "Want Water? Pay the Price: An Interview With Aguanomics' David Zetland" at BusinessPundit.com
Jul 2 2008: "Paddy-whacked" at FreeExchange (The Economist)