Manufacturing Water footprint. A comparison between rich and poor countries

Abstract

ABSTRACT
Worldwide dynamism of the manufacturing sector depends on access to water. Rich countries consume greater amounts of water in absolute terms than poor economies. However, in per capita terms or per unit of value added, lower income countries register higher water consumption, driving a remarkable inequality in water footprint among these groups of countries. The document aims to identify the inequalities of water consumption of industrial products between groups of countries. To do this, the water footprint is calculated through the input-output analysis for a group of 150 countries during the period 1996-2005, with information available in Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011), and then inequality is estimated using the Theil index proposed by Duro and Teixidó (2013). The results confirm the imbalance in the distribution of water consumption between rich and poor countries. Thus, it can be inferred that the consumption of manufactured goods from rich countries is based on a water footprint that is comparatively low to that of the countries with the lowest income, following, then, an intensive industrial strategy in water consumption.

JEL Classification: L6, Q25, Q32.