Siren Song: Chilean Water Law as a Model for International Reform.

• Position: Brief Article - Book Review

Carl Bauer. 1616 P Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20036: RFF Press, April 2004. (202) 329-5028. www.rffpress.org. ISBN 1-891853-79-1. 164 pp. $33.95 Clothbound.

Increasing scarcity, conflict, and environmental damage are critical features of the global water crisis. As governments, international organizations, NGOs, and corporations have tried to respond, Chilean water law has seemed an attractive alternative to older legislative and regulatory approaches. Boldly introduced in 1981, Bauer argues that the Chilean model is the world's leading example of a free market approach to water law, water rights, and water resource management. Despite more than a decade of international debate, however, a comprehensive, balanced account of the Chilean experience has been unavailable.

Siren Song is an interdisciplinary analysis combining law, political economy, and geography. Bauer places the Chilean model of water law in international context by reviewing the contemporary debate about water economics and policy reform. He follows with an account of the Chilean experience, drawing on primary and secondary...