Global Virtual Water Flows and a Water Resource Curse?

A component-specific analysis of green, blue, and grey virtual-water flows in global supply chains, their economic drivers, and whether water-related trade patterns imply a macro-level resource curse.

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	Global Virtual Water Flows and a Water Resource Curse? (pdf)	3.34 M

Requirements

No formal prerequisites. Basic familiarity with economics, international trade, or environmental policy is helpful.

General Overview

Description

This courselet examines how international production and trade redistribute water pressure across countries through global supply chains.

Using an Eora multi-region input-output framework for 189 countries over 2010-2021, it distinguishes green, blue, and grey virtual water; compares net and gross embodied-water outflows; and links these measures to water-withdrawal capacity, manufacturing structure, trade openness, and economic growth.

The central finding is that water impacts are component-specific. Total water withdrawal is associated with blue- and grey-water net outflows and with gross outflows of all three components. Manufacturing is most clearly associated with grey-water outflows. The evidence does not support a generic macro-level water resource curse.