Examining the influence of access to improved water and sanitation sources on countries’ economic efficiency

This paper evaluates the effect of access to improved water sources and sanitation on 41 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries’ economic efficiency and growth. For this reason Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), bootstrap techniques and probabilistic approaches are used. The empirical results indicate that SSA countries’ economic efficiency is positively influenced by the access of population both on improved water sources and sanitation. Finally, when the provision of access to improved water sources is provided to more than 50% of the population, the positive effect on countries’ economic efficiency is much greater compared to the effect of providing sustainable access to improved sanitation to the same proportion of population.