The Economics of Water Scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa : World Bank Publications : 9781464817397 : 1464817391 : 30 Jun 2023 : Despite massive infrastructure investments, countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region continue to face unprecedented water scarcity due to climate change, population growth, and socioeconomic development. Current policy regimes for managing water across competing needs are primarily determined by state control of large infrastructure. Policy makers across the region understand the unsustainability of water allocations and that increasing investments in new infrastructure and technologies to increase water supply place a growing financial burden on governments. However, standard solutions for demand management--reallocating water to higher value uses, reducing waste, and increasing tariffs--pose difficult political dilemmas that, more often than not, are left unresolved. Without institutional reform, the region will likely remain in