The Impact of Water Quality on GDP Growth : Evidence from Around the World

[摘要] Declining water quality can impact theeconomy in various ways. Impacts can be found in the healthsector, where labor productivity can be affected, inagriculture, where the quality and quantity of food producedcan be reduced, and in tourism, real estate,aquaculture/fisheries and other sectors which rely onenvironmental quality and ecosystem services. Despite thesewell-known impacts, finding economy-wide affects of waterquality on economic activity can be elusive. In this paperwe attempt to fill this gap by using a conventionalempirical approach in contemporary environmental economicsand new data on economic activity and water quality fornineteen countries from 1990-2014. The authors find thatwhen rivers become very heavily polluted, regions downstreamsee reductions in economic growth, losing between 0.8 and2.0 percent of economic growth. These losses imply that inmany places, the costs of environmental degradation areseverely under-estimated and well above efficient levels.

[发布日期] 2019-12-10 [发布机构] World Bank, Washington, DC

[学科分类] 社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

[关键词] WATER QUALITY;ECONOMIC GROWTH;WATER POLLUTION;WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT;AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY