Bring Back Our Light: Power Outages and Industrial Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa

Justice Mensah ()

No 2016.20, Working Papers from FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists

Abstract: Power cuts have become a characteristic feature of many Sub-Saharan African economies. This paper attempts to investigate the micro and macro impacts of power outages by estimating the effects on firm revenue and productivity, and output growth of the manufacturing and industrial sectors. Further, I evaluate the impact of self-generation in ameliorating the effects of electricity shortages on firm performance using a quasi-experimental approach. Results from the analysis reveal significant negative effects of electricity shortages on firm revenue and productivity, and output growth of manufacturing and industrial sectors. Finally, contrary to the notion that self-generation may be helpful to firms during outage periods, evidence from this paper suggest the reliance on self-generation is associated with productivity losses albeit short run revenue gains.

Keywords: Power Outages; Sub-Saharan Africa; Electricity; Productivity; Firms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D04 D24 L11 L94 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2016-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-cse, nep-eff and nep-ene
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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http://faere.fr/pub/WorkingPapers/Mensah_FAERE_WP2016.20.pdf First version, 2016 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fae:wpaper:2016.20

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