The Drivers and Impacts of WaterInfrastructure Reliability : A Global Analysis ofManufacturing Firms

Islam, Asif ; Hyland, Marie

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: INFRASTRUCTURE;    WATER INFRASTRUCTURE;    DROUGHT;    FIRM PRODUCTIVITY;    WEATHER;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8637
RP-ID  :  WPS8637

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Inadequate infrastructure impedes theproductivity of manufacturing firms, with negativeconsequences for the wider economy. This study examines howwater infrastructure copes with severe weather fluctuationsand analyzes the effect of unreliable water supplies on theproductivity of manufacturing firms, focusing predominatelyon firms in developing economies. This is achieved usingfirm-level data from World Bank Enterprise Surveys coveringmore than 16,000 manufacturing firms in a cross-section of103 countries between 2009 and 2015. The study finds thatperiods of significantly low rainfall lead to higher wateroutages, and that the overall impact is driven by theeffects of drought on low-income and lower-middle-incomeeconomies, with upper-middle-income and high-incomeeconomies benefitting from more resilient waterinfrastructure. Furthermore, the study finds that incidentsof water outages lead to lower firm productivity for firmsin less developed economies. For the average firm located ina low-income or lower-middle-income economy, one additionalwater outage incident per day in a typical month can lead tolosses of approximately 8.2 percent of annual sales. Thisfinding calls for increased policy focus on waterinfrastructure services, particularly in poorer countrieswhere water infrastructure and firms seem to be particularlyvulnerable to the vagaries of rainfall.