The Effect of urbanization, population growth and climate change on the WEF nexus using an input-output analysis and econometric modelling

Abstract

The efficient allocation and consumption of resources has been of interest to the economics academic community for many years, and this is mainly attributable to the fact that, resources are a part of our everyday lives. This paper focuses on three main resources for human development: the water, energy and food resources, and their sustainability in today's economic systems. We utilize two modelling techniques in this paper, the panel data approach seeks to investigate the impact of urbanization, population growth and climate change on water demand, and the input-output modelling approach seeks to investigate the interlinkages that exist bet\veen the WEF sectors of China, Mexico, South Afi"ica, and Spain. Results fi·om the paper suggest that urbanization and population growth are the significant variables that contribute to water demand, whereas the WEF Nexus interlinkages of the four countries exhibit strong linkages between the water, energy, and food sectors. Results of this paper are relevant to policymakers that are interested in improving either the water, energy, or food sectors without destroying the other sectors.