Lunchtime Seminar: Valuing and pricing water (& other stuff)

About the Speaker:  Dr Richard Tooth is a Director, with the expert services firm Sapere Research Group, and President of the NSW branch of the Economics Society of Australia.  He works primarily on issues relating to economic policy and regulation across a range of industries that includes water, energy, transport, natural resources, insurance, and other financial services.  His recent work has included contributions on issues such as measurement of wellbeing, pricing of infrastructure, public transport the economics of insurance and road safety reform.  He holds a BSc in information science, a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a PhD in economics.

Abstract : How should we value and price water? We need values to make decisions and set prices that customers pay. However, in urban settings water there’s no market to determine the price. There are some challenging considerations. Supply – and to an extent demand – is uncertain but we can store water cheaply in large quantities and large infrastructure is typically required to increase capacity. This presentation will examine the issues and cover topics relevant for a range of infrastructure industries.