Inadequate infrastructure impedes the productivity of manufacturing firms, with negative consequences for the wider economy. This study examines how water infrastructure copes with severe weather fluctuations and analyzes the effect of unreliable water supplies on the productivity of...

This paper examines whether export participation matters for job training. The paper draws on longitudinal worker-firm data for Brazilian manufacturing, linked with detailed records on training activity from the main provider. The analysis uses industry-specific exchange rate movements to...

This paper explores the link between exports and total factor productivity in Brazilian manufacturing firms over the period 2000?08. The Brazilian experience is instructive, as it is a case of an economy that expanded aggregate exports significantly, but with stagnant aggregate growth in total...

The paper presents the development and implementation of a geo-spatial model for mapping populations' access to specified types of water and sanitation services in Nigeria. The analysis uses geo-located, population-representative data from the National Water and Sanitation Survey 2015, along...

Management of common-pool resources in the absence of individual pricing can lead to suboptimal allocation. In the context of irrigation schemes, this can create water scarcity even when there is sufficient water to meet the total requirements. High-frequency data from three irrigation schemes...

This paper provides new evidence on how effectively piped water consumption subsidies are targeting poor households in 10 low- and middle-income countries around the world. The results suggest that, in these countries, existing tariff structures fall short of recovering the costs of service...

Utilities the world over grapple with how to set prices to recover fixed costs. This paper considers optimal utility provision and pricing when consumers form habits without being aware of it. Data from a multi-year pricing experiment among nearly 1500 rural piped water customers in Vietnam...

The main purpose of this paper is to argue that the optimal design of regulation of water and sanitation monopolies should be the outcome of a detailed diagnostic of the institutional constraints impacting the ability of the operator -- whether public or private -- to deliver the services....

How do civil servants in district water and sanitation departments address problems of water access in rural communities in Tanzania? What are the bureaucratic procedures they follow? How do the bureaucratic procedures around formulating budgets, managing money, and interacting with communities...