The movement to implement market-based approaches to allocating water is gaining ground across California and in other western states. In Rivers of Gold, Brent M. Haddad explains the concept of water markets and the economic theory undergirding them. He shows how some water markets have worked -- and others have failed -- and gives the reader the analytic tools necessary to understand why. Rivers of Gold is the first book to provide a detailed examination of water markets and the institutional design issues associated with them.