The legal and policy institutions of water resources, along with their physical features, give rise to the field of water resource economics. The market is a core analytical concept of microeconomics. Yet rarely, if ever, do we observe markets at work in allocating water resources and water quality. Instead, the various settings of water allocation are often particular and idiosyncratic; this makes water resource economics challenging, and interesting, to study. While we do not observe many markets, we continue to apply concepts of demand and supply, and the several forms of externalities, to water and water resources. Most of our subject matter will involve the United States ? The physical, legal, and public policy features of freshwater resources in the United States. Learning goals: to apply the principles and methods of microeconomics and environmental economics to contemporary water-resource issues; and to develop an understanding of the physical, legal, and public-policy features of freshwater resources in the United States. Knowledge competencies: microeconomic principles of water allocation institutions; application of environmental economics to water resources; and legal and public-policy institutions of U.S. water resources. Skill competencies: quantitative reasoning and skills, and water-policy analysis.