Does Large Scale Infrastructure Investment Alleviate Poverty? Impacts of Rwanda's Electricity Access Roll-Out Program

Luciane Lenz, Anicet Munyehirwe, Jörg Peters and Maximiliane Sievert

No 555, Ruhr Economic Papers from RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen

Abstract: The United Nations' objective to provide electricity to the 1.3 billion people without access in developing countries comes at high costs. Little evidence exists on socioeconomic impacts of electrification. This paper rigorously investigates effects of a large grid extension program in Rwanda on all rural beneficiary groups: households, microenterprises, health centers, and schools. While the program has led to a tremendous increase of connections, appliance uptake and electricity consumption remain low. We find only weak evidence for impacts on classical poverty indicators. To inform future policy design, we call for thorough cost-benefit comparison between on-grid and off-grid solutions.

Keywords: energy access; difference-in-differences; electrification; mixed-methods; Sub-Saharan Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 O18 Q41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-ene
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Journal Article: Does Large-Scale Infrastructure Investment Alleviate Poverty? Impacts of Rwanda’s Electricity Access Roll-Out Program (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:rwirep:555

DOI: 10.4419/86788636

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