As part of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for ensuring clean water and sanitation worldwide by 2030, SDG target 6.4 seeks to attain sustainable withdrawals of freshwater through efficiency gains with a view to relieving water stress in vulnerable populated areas. The water footprint (WF) is a key metric to measure this concept, although the dynamics of the drivers of the WF through space and time remain relatively under-researched, whilst in foresight studies, the WF is often subject to simplistic assumptions. Thus, constructing a panel dataset of 130 countries and 156 crops for the period 2002–2016, this paper empirically assesses the sign and magnitude of WF drivers of agricultural crop activities, employing a careful selection of demographic, economic and climatic drivers. The study uncovers evidence of significant deviations in WF drivers across regions segmented by relative wealth, relating specifically to the stage of economic development and the presence (absence) of economies of scale, whilst we confirm that geographical coordinates have a major bearing on the climatic WF driver. Moreover, examining the temporal dimension, there is compelling evidence supporting a structural break in the role that technical progress exerted on the WF prior to, and in the wake of, the 2008 financial crisis.

中文翻译：

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生活在水边：可耕地水足迹驱动因素的全球计量经济学小组估计

作为到 2030 年确保全球清洁水和卫生设施的可持续发展目标 (SDG) 的一部分，可持续发展目标 6.4 旨在通过提高效率来实现淡水的可持续提取，以缓解脆弱人口稠密地区的用水压力。水足迹 (WF) 是衡量这一概念的关键指标，尽管 WF 驱动因素在空间和时间上的动态研究仍然相对不足，而在前瞻性研究中，WF 往往受制于简单化的假设。因此，本文构建了 2002-2016 年期间 130 个国家和 156 种作物的面板数据集，通过仔细选择人口、经济和气候驱动因素，实证评估了农作物活动的 WF 驱动因素的符号和大小。该研究揭示了按相对财富划分的区域之间 WF 驱动因素存在显着偏差的证据，特别是与经济发展阶段和规模经济的存在（不存在）有关，同时我们确认地理坐标对气候 WF 有重大影响司机。此外，从时间维度来看，有令人信服的证据支持技术进步在 2008 年金融危机之前和之后对 WF 所发挥的作用出现结构性突破。