Water resource economics (WRE) course design merits fresh attention, given global water crises and innovations in effective water management and governance. WRE courses need to provide tools for analyzing a new generation of water policy tools and to present a well-rounded perspective on the role of benefit-cost analyses (BCAs) in the policy process. Updated WRE courses can emphasize water’s role in energy, food and development economics, social justice and cross-cultural considerations, up-to-date understanding of neurobehavior in economic decision making, and the importance of nonmarket valuation and regional economic methods. Use of geospatial data in WRE econometric analyses deserves attention, as well as more sophisticated treatment of risks related to extreme events so that policy processes can consider these more fully. The article provides a number of other practical recommendations for designing upper-level undergraduate and graduate WRE courses, and includes a list of key topics and sources for class readings.

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