Does basic energy access generate socioeconomic benefits? A field experiment with off-grid solar power in India
Aklin, Michaël and Bayer, Patrick and Harish, S. P. and Urpelainen, Johannes (2017) Does basic energy access generate socioeconomic benefits? A field experiment with off-grid solar power in India. Science Advances, 3 (5). e1602153. ISSN 2375-2548 (https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1602153)
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Abstract
This article assesses the socioeconomic effects of solar microgrids. The lack of access to electricity is a major obstacle to the socioeconomic development of more than a billion people. Off-grid solar technologies hold potential as an affordable and clean solution to satisfy basic electricity needs. We conducted a randomized field experiment in India to estimate the causal effect of off-grid solar power on electricity access and broader socioeconomic development of 1281 rural households. Within a year, electrification rates in the treatment group increased by 29 to 36 percentage points. Daily hours of access to electricity increased only by 0.99 to 1.42 hours, and the confidence intervals are wide. Kerosene expenditure on the black market decreased by 47 to 49 rupees per month. Despite these strong electrification and expenditure effects, we found no systematic evidence for changes in savings, spending, business creation, time spent working or studying, or other broader indicators of socioeconomic development.
ORCID iDs
Aklin, Michaël, Bayer, Patrick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1731-1270, Harish, S. P. and Urpelainen, Johannes;-
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Item type: Article ID code: 69161 Dates: DateEvent17 May 2017Published20 March 2017AcceptedSubjects: Political Science Department: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) > Government and Public Policy > Politics Depositing user: Pure Administrator Date deposited: 31 Jul 2019 13:55 Last modified: 15 Oct 2024 11:54 URI: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/69161