Water and Its Effect on Business Productivity: A Cross-Country Analysis

Using a unique survey database of more than 55,000 firms in more than 100 countries, we explore the impact of water and its scarcity on firms. Even though, about 1 in 3 firms require water and 1 in 4 of those firms experience insufficient water supply, productivity of firms using water is higher than productivity of firms not requiring water. Even with or without water shortage problems, productivity of large firms using water is higher than productivity of all other firms. Productivity of manufacturing firms requiring no water is lower than productivity of all other firms. A firm’s perception about corruption does not have any influence on its productivity irrespective of whether it uses water or it experiences water scarcity.