Does the quality of electricity matter? Evidence from rural India

Ujjayant Chakravorty (), Martino Pelli and Beyza Ural Marchand

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2014, vol. 107, issue PA, 228-247

Abstract: This paper estimates the returns to household income due to improved access to electricity in rural India. We examine the effect of connecting a household to the grid and of the quality of electricity, defined as hours of daily supply. The analysis is based on two rounds of a representative panel of more than 10,000 households. We use the district-level density of transmission cables as instrument for the electrification status of the household. We find that a grid connection increases non-agricultural incomes of rural households by about 9% during the study period (1994–2005). However, a grid connection and a higher quality of electricity (in terms of fewer outages and more hours per day) increases non-agricultural incomes by about 28.6% in the same period.

Keywords: O12; O18; Q48; Electricity supply; Quality; India; Energy and development; Infrastructure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (75)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Does the Quality of Electricity Matter? Evidence from Rural India (2014)
Working Paper: Does the Quality of Electricity Matter? Evidence from Rural India (2014)
Working Paper: Does the Quality of Electricity Matter? Evidence from Rural India (2014)
Working Paper: Does the Quality of Electricity Matter? Evidence from Rural India (2013)
Working Paper: Does the Quality of Electricity Matter? Evidence from Rural India (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:107:y:2014:i:pa:p:228-247

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2014.04.011

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