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Is electrification welfare improving?: non-experimental evidence from rural Bhutan
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Is electrification welfare improving?: non-experimental evidence from rural Bhutan

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  • Kumar, Santosh
  • Rauniyar, Ganesh

Abstract

This paper investigates the income and educational impacts of a large village-based electrification program in rural Bhutan. We designed and administered a household and village-level socio-economic survey in the electrified and non-electrified villages and collected data on wide range of developmental outcomes. Using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and propensity-based weighted regression, we find that access to electricity improved economic and educational outcomes. While access to electricity increased non-farm income by 60-70%, and it had no significant effect on farm-income. Since non- farm income consists of a small percentage of total household income, the impact should be considered modest and not large. We also nd that children in electrified households have 0.75 additional years of schooling, an increase of about 24%. Additionally, amount of evening study time at home is 10 minutes more for the children in the treated households compared to untreated households. We employed different matching algorithms and our results are consistent and robust to all matching estimator. Our study contributes to the few studies on infrastructure literature which has often been focused on transport, telecom, and water projects. Given the limited use of electricity for income-generating activities in Bhutan, investments in other complementary infrastructure, such as, markets, roads, information technology, credit may help the households to realize the full benefits of electrification.

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  • Kumar, Santosh & Rauniyar, Ganesh, 2011. "Is electrification welfare improving?: non-experimental evidence from rural Bhutan," MPRA Paper 31482, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:31482
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Obsa Urgessa Ayana & Jima Degaga, 2022. "Effects of rural electrification on household welfare: a meta-regression analysis," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 69(2), pages 209-261, June.
    2. Dendup, Ngawang & Arimura, Toshi H., 2019. "Information leverage: The adoption of clean cooking fuel in Bhutan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 181-195.
    3. Sinem Kilic Celik & M. Ayhan Kose & Franziska Ohnsorge, 2023. "Potential Growth Prospects: Risks, Rewards and Policies," CAMA Working Papers 2023-19, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    4. Hyun H. Son, 2013. "Inequality of Human Opportunities in Developing Asia," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 30(2), pages 110-130, September.
    5. Mohammad Jahangir Alam & Shinji Kaneko, 2019. "The Effects of Electrification on School Enrollment in Bangladesh: Short- and Long-Run Perspectives," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-26, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Rural Electrification; Development Effectiveness; Asian Development Bank; Impct Evaluation; South-east Asia; Bhutan.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • O20 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - General
    • N75 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - Asia including Middle East

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