On: How Growers Gamed California’s Drought

[ianlevesque]

The problem will also sort itself out when the water is gone.

[jeffdavis → ianlevesque]

Market forces will force us to start conserving and optimizing now; and solving problems sooner is generally better than solving them later.

[Retra → jeffdavis]

I'm skeptical that your use of "market forces" is distinguishable from "magic" here.

[Dylan16807 → Retra]

You could solve the problem just by making water cost more. Wasteful farming can't take the hit, residential users can. It doesn't take magic.

But even simpler than that, if you let people with water rights sell their water, they will be less likely to waste it.

Or maybe get rid of water rights...

[WillPostForFood → Retra]

As opposed to the awesome planning California has done so far? Could it be much worse? For all the crisis talk, we water our lawn without restriction. Prices haven't changed, rules haven't changed, and we are years into the drought. The restaurant water rule is the first apparent effect for most California city dwellers.

[SilasX → Retra]

Market forces have a long track record of ensuring that scarce goods are economized on when property rights in their factors are well-defined and transferable.

Magic doesn't.