All In A Day's Work At The UN

The U.N. has been in the news of late for their lack of response in Darfur, the oil-for-food corruption, and sexual abuse by peacekeepers. However, what is not covered nearly as much is the U.N.’s current efforts to solve the water problem in the world. According to this piece, (WATER SOCIALISTS ARE ALL WET) the UN is taking measures to cut in half the number of people without sanitary water. Like most things that come from the UN, however this plan is rooted in a central authority approach to water allocation. Rather than adopting market reforms in areas of inefficient allocation, the UN has chosen to take an aggressive stand against “privatization” b/c of the fear that individuals will be charged exorbitant prices for clean and safe water. As the CATO article points out, this is not the case. Under a regulatory regime, allocation will continue to be more costly in terms of opportunity costs (time spent getting water = less time for work/school), and will continue to tether those individuals in need of sanitary water to a life of poverty.