Governance Matters: Universal Access to Water

Abstract

Universal access to water is acknowledged as a fundamental human right which governments have to secure. To improve access to water, it has been argued that an important factor, if not the most important, is to strengthen water sector governance and reduce corruption. Looking at the relationship between governance indicators and access to water sources and controlling for various factors, our contribution fills a gap in proving empirically, for a cross-country analysis including 147 countries, that governance indeed matters. In particular, we add a nuance to the debate, showing that rural populations are more vulnerable to weak governance.

Keywords: Water, Governance, Universal Service

JEL Classification: O17, L95