Bethany Cooper

APrf Bethany Cooper

ARC Mid-Career Industry Fellow

School of Economics

College of Business and Law

Available For Media Comment.

Dr Bethany Cooper is an Australian Research Council Mid-Career Industry Fellow and an applied economist at UniSA Business.
Her work spans resource economics with a focus on water policy and management, the interface between gender and resources and agriculture for development. For over a decade, Bethany's work has focussed on applied research, particularly in quantifying difficult policy trade-offs in the water sector and improving understanding of the complexity of choice.
Bethany has led research projects for a number of national and international agencies, such as CSIRO, SA Water, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning Victoria, the New South Wales Metropolitan Water Directorate and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. 
Bethany has published in a number of highly ranked journals and has won several prestigious prizes for her research (e.g. CEDA prize awarded for excellence in economic policy).
Currently, Bethany is an Adjunct with the School of Agriculture and Environment, University of Western Australia. She is also leading the economics team working within the CRC SAAFE that looks at managing antimicrobial resistance in partnership with industry.
Prior to joining the University of South Australia in 2016, Bethany was a Research Fellow in the Centre for Water Policy and Management, La Trobe University.

  • The economics of reducing anitmicrobial resistance
  • Customer aesthetic preferences in rural water supply systems
  • Valuing environmental water entitlements
  • Understanding, measuring and managing the amenity of urban waterways
  • Farm enterprise risks and non-interruptible water supply
  • Institutions to support intensification, integrated decision making and inclusiveness in agriculture in the East Gangetic Plain
  • Efficient participatory irrigation to support productive and sustainable agriculture in south Asia
  • Quantifying improved fisheries productivity at fish passage rehabilitation sites (south-east Asia)

Year Citation
2025 Parry, K., Cooper, B., Bjornlund, H., Crase, L., Moyo, M., & Dube, T. (2025). Institutions influencing plot access and intergenerational land transfer: policy insights from a smallholder irrigation scheme in Zimbabwe. Journal of Rural Studies, 114, 1-13.
DOI
2025 Lountain, S., Cooper, B., & Crase, L. (2025). Measuring empowerment in South Asia: empirical insights from the development of a women's empowerment and labour (WEaL) scale. Journal of Development Studies, online(12), 1-21.
DOI
2025 Begum, I. A., Alam, M. J., Sarma, P. K., Cooper, B., Crase, L., & Sayem, S. M. (2025). Nexus among agricultural extension services, women's empowerment and farm income in Bangladesh. NJAS: Impact in Agricultural and Life Sciences, 97(1, article no. 2534480), 1-15.
DOI
2024 Damoah, E., Connor, J. D., Sangha, K. K., Cooper, B., & Poelina, A. (2024). Nature’s value, philosophies, theories, and concepts: a critical review and suggestions for future indigenous research. Environmental Research Letters, 19(11), 19 pages.
DOI
2024 Lountain, S., Cooper, B., Crase, L., Burton, M., & Rigby, D. (2024). Insights into preferences for irrigation pumps in West Bengal: an application of best-worst-scaling. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 68(2), 349-365.
DOI
2024 Tingey Holyoak, J., Cooper, B., Crase, L., & Pisaniello, J. (2024). Business strategies to counter climate change risks to long lived production assets. Journal of Cleaner Production, 459(142553), 1-23.
DOI
2024 Tingey Holyoak, J., Cooper, B., Crase, L., & Pisaniello, J. (2024). A framework for supporting climate-exposed asset decision-making in agriculture. Land Use Policy, 137(106989), 1-11.
DOI
2024 Cooper, B., Burton, M., Crase, L., & Rigby, D. (2024). Managing and prioritizing investments in urban waterways: Empirical insights Into the preferences of the public and experts. Water Resources Research, 60(6, article no. e2022WR033737), 1-21.
DOI
2024 Crase, L., Cooper, B., Burton, M., Baumgartner, L. J., & Ning, N. (2024). Adaptive management: are important environmental concepts understood and valued by the public?. Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 31(3), 362-377.
DOI
2023 Cooper, B., Burton, M., & Crase, L. (2023). Exploring customer heterogeneity with a scale‐extended latent class choice model: experimental evidence drawn from urban water users. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 67(2), 176-197.
DOI
2023 Cooper, B., Crase, L., Burton, M., Rigby, D., Alam, M. J., & Kishore, A. (2023). Policy preferences of experts seeking to raise and stabilise farm incomes in the Eastern Gangetic Plains. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 67(3), 323-345.
DOI
2023 Cooper, B., Crase, L., Burton, M., & Pham, H. D. (2023). Survey data on preferences and attitudes towards participatory irrigation management in India and Pakistan. Scientific Data, 10(1), 1-7.
DOI
2023 Cooper, B., Crase, L., & Burton, M. (2023). Measuring and managing ecological and amenity outcomes in urban waterways. Landscape and Urban Planning, 236(104777), 1-13.
DOI
2023 Lountain, S., Cooper, B., Crase, L., & Burton, M. (2023). Is policy convergence required to improve women's empowerment in agriculture? Evidence from West Bengal. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 40(2), 213-233.
DOI
2023 Cooper, B., Crase, L., & Burton, M. (2023). Households' willingness to pay for water for the environment in an urban setting. Journal of Environmental Management, 348(119263), 1-12.
DOI
2022 Cooper, B., Donner, E., Crase, L., Robertson, H., Carter, D., Short, M., . . . Fielding, K. (2022). Maintaining a social license to operate for wastewater-based monitoring: the case of managing infectious disease and the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Environmental Management, 320(115819), 1-10.
DOI Scopus13 WoS12 Europe PMC8
2021 Khosroshahi, S., Crase, L., Cooper, B., & Burton, M. (2021). Matching customers' preferences for tariff reform with managers' appetite for change: the case of volumetric-only tariffs in Australia. The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 65(2), 449-471.
DOI
2021 Cooper, B., & Okello, W. O. (2021). An economic lens to understanding antimicrobial resistance: disruptive cases to livestock and wastewater management in Australia. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 65(4), 900-917.
DOI
2021 Baumgartner, L. J., Barlow, C., Mallen Cooper, M., Boys, C., Marsden, T., Thorncraft, G., . . . Cooper, B. (2021). Achieving fish passage outcomes at irrigation infrastructure; a case study from the Lower Mekong Basin. Developments in Aquaculture and Fisheries Science, 6(2), 113-124.
DOI Scopus32
2020 Crase, L., Khosroshahi, S., & Cooper, B. (2020). Hydrology, topography and demography matter: why care needs to be exercised when assessing water prices and regulation and the extent to which they conform with best practice. Utilities Policy, 62(100999), 1-7.
DOI
2020 Hone, S., Crase, L., Burton, M., Copper, B., Gandhi, V. P., Ashfaq, M., . . . Ahmad, B. (2020). Farmer cooperation in participatory irrigation in South Asia: insights from game theory. Water, 12(5, article no. 1329), 1-15.
DOI
2020 Burton, M., Cooper, B., & Crase, L. (2020). Analysing irrigation farmers' preferences for local governance using a discrete choice experiment in India and Pakistan. Water, 12(6, article no. 1821), 1-19.
DOI
2020 Crase, L., Connor, J., Michaels, S., & Cooper, B. (2020). Australian water policy reform: lessons learned and potential transferability. Climate Policy, 20(5), 641-651.
DOI Scopus16 WoS13
2019 Memon, J. A., Cooper, B., & Wheeler, S. (2019). Mainstreaming gender into irrigation: experiences from Pakistan. Water, 11(11), 2408-1-2408-22.
DOI Scopus11 WoS6
2019 Cooper, B., Crase, L., & Baumgartner, L. J. (2019). Estimating benefits and costs: a case of fish passages in Lao PDR and the development of the Lower Mekong Fishway Support Tool. Marine and freshwater research, 70(9), 1284-1294.
DOI
2019 Crase, L., Cooper, B., & Burton, M. (2019). From sharing the burden of scarcity to markets: Ill-fittingwater property rights and the pressure of economic transition in South Asia. Water, 11(6), 1-12.
DOI
2019 Cooper, B., Scheufele, G., & Crase, L. (2019). Grappling with collecting data on household preferences in emerging economies: what role for discrete choice experiments?. Agricultural Science, 30/31(2/1), 102-111.
2019 Cooper, B., Burton, M., & Crase, L. (2019). Willingness to pay to avoid water restrictions in Australia under a changing climate. Environmental and resource economics, 72(3), 823-847.
DOI
2019 Hung, P. D., Crase, L., Burton, M., & Cooper, B. (2019). Strategies for integrating farmers into modern vegetable supply chains in Vietnam: farmer attitudes and willingness to accept. The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 63(2), 265-281.
DOI
2018 Cooper, B., Crase, L., & Rose, J. M. (2018). Cost reflective pricing: empirical insights into irrigators' preferences for water tariffs. Australian journal of agricultural and resource economics, 62(2), 256-278.
DOI
2018 Cooper, B., Burton, M., & Crase, L. (2018). Valuing improvements in urban water security: evidence of heterogeneity derived from a latent class. Applied economics, 50(31), 3364-3375.
DOI
2018 Crase, L., Cooper, B., Dollery, B., & Marques, R. (2018). One person's drain is another's water supply: why property rights, scope, measurement and hydrology matter when it comes to Integrated Water Resources Management. Ecological economics, 147, 436-441.
DOI
2017 Cooper, B., Crase, L., & Maybery, D. (2017). Pushing the governance boundaries: making transparent the role of water utilities in managing urban waterways. Water resources management, 31(8), 2429-2446.
DOI
2017 Cooper, B. (2017). What drives compliance? An application of the theory of planned behaviour to urban water restrictions using structural equation modelling. Applied economics, 49(14), 1426-1439.
DOI
2017 Cooper, B., Crase, L., & Maybery, D. (2017). Incorporating amenity and ecological values of urban water into planning frameworks: evidence from Melbourne, Australia. Australasian journal of environmental management, 24(1), 64-80.
DOI
2017 Crase, L., & Cooper, B. (2017). The political economy of drought: legacy and lessons from Australia's millennium drought. Economic papers, 36(3), 289-299.
DOI
2016 Cooper, B., & Crase, L. (2016). Governing water service provision: lessons from Australia. Utilities policy, 43(A), 42-47.
DOI
2015 Crase, L., & Cooper, B. (2015). Politics, socio-economics and water allocations: a note on the limits of Integrated Water Resources Management. Australasian journal of environmental management, 22(4), 388-399.
DOI
2014 Crase, L., Pawsey, N., & Cooper, B. (2014). The closure of Melbourne's north-south pipeline: a case of hydraulic autarky. Economic papers: a journal of applied economics and policy, 33(2), 115-122.
DOI
2014 Cooper, B., Crase, L., & Pawsey, N. (2014). Best practice pricing principles and the politics of water pricing. Agricultural water management, 145, 92-97.
DOI
2012 Cooper, B., Rose, J., & Crase, L. (2012). Does anybody like water restrictions? Some observations in Australian urban communities. Australian journal of agricultural and resource economics, 56(1), 61-81.
DOI
2011 Cooper, B., Burton, M., & Crase, L. (2011). Urban water restrictions: attitudes and avoidance. Water resources research, 47(12, article no. W12527), 1-13.
DOI
2009 Cooper, B. (2009). Choice experiments informing environmental policy [book review]. Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 16(4), 267-268.
2008 Cooper, B., & Crase, L. (2008). Waste water preferences in rural towns across north-east Victoria: a choice modelling approach. Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 15(1), 41-50.
DOI

Year Citation
2021 Lountain, S., Crase, L., & Cooper, B. (2021). When the genie is out of the bottle: the case of dynamic groundwater markets in West Bengal, India. In S. A. Wheeler (Ed.), Source details - Title: Water Markets: A Global Assessment (pp. 79-90). UK: Edward Elgar.
DOI
2015 Crase, L., Pawsey, N., & Cooper, B. (2015). Water pricing in Australia: unbundled politics, accounting, and water pricing. In A. Dinar, V. Pochat, & J. Albiac-Murillo (Eds.), Source details - Title: Water pricing experiences and innovations (pp. 15-39). Switzerland: Springer.
DOI
2014 Cooper, B., Crase, L., & Pawsey, N. (2014). Water tariffs and farmer adaptation: the case of Goulburn-Murray Water, Victoria, Australia. In J. P. Palutikof (Ed.), Source details - Title: Applied studies in climate adaptation (pp. 156-165). US: Wiley-Blackwell.
DOI
2012 Cooper, B., Crase, L., & Pawsey, N. (2012). Best practice pricing principles vs. the politics of water pricing. In H. Bjornlund, C. A. Brebbia, & S. Wheeler (Eds.), Source details - Title: Sustainable irrigation and drainage IV : management, technologies and policies (Vol. 1, pp. 509-520). United Kingdom: WIT Press.
DOI
2011 Cooper, B. (2011). The use of potable water by tourists: accounting for behavioral differences. In L. Crase, & S. O'Keefe (Eds.), Source details - Title: Water policy, tourism, and recreation: lessons from Australia (pp. 177-192). US: RFF Press.
2011 Crase, L., & Cooper, B. (2011). Water pricing, water restrictions, and tourism water demand. In L. Crase, & S. O'Keefe (Eds.), Source details - Title: Water policy, tourism, and recreation: lessons from Australia (pp. 193-204). US: RFF Press.

  • Understanding and enumerating water management options at the margin: a blueprint for achieving optimal outcomes in the CLLMM, Goyder Institute for Water Research, 31/07/2024 - 02/03/2026

  • Water Resilient Rural Communities in South Punjab, Pakistan, Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research, 19/03/2025 - 30/08/2025

  • Carbon benefits measurement, verification and accounts for South Australian Blue Carbon Ecosystem Restoration Project, Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, 01/06/2023 - 30/06/2025

  • Climate-proofing accounting standards: Developing a guidebook of options for Accountants for long-lived and climate-exposed assets, CPA Australia, 07/01/2022 - 30/06/2025

  • Adaptation of the South-Eastern drainage system under a changing climate, Goyder Institute for Water Research, 31/10/2022 - 31/05/2025

  • Strategies for land improvement districts in Japan: Lessons from Australia, Iwate University, 11/12/2023 - 29/02/2024

  • Institutions to support intensification, integrated decision making and inclusiveness in agriculture in the East Gangetic Plain, ACIAR-Research and Development Program, 30/06/2018 - 30/09/2021

  • Efficient participatory irrigation to support productive and sustainable agriculture in south Asia, ACIAR-Research and Development Program, 26/08/2016 - 30/06/2021

  • Quantifying biophysical and community impacts of improved fish passage in Lao PDR, ACIAR-Research and Development Program, 01/01/2016 - 31/12/2020

  • The Role of Epistemic Community in developing agri environmental policies, Iwate University, 15/11/2017 - 30/06/2018

  • Valuing environmental water entitlements owned by Melbourne water, Melbourne Water Corporation, 01/07/2016 - 30/07/2017

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