Flip the Switch: The Spatial Impact of the Rural Electrification Administration 1935-1940

Carl Kitchens and Price Fishback

No 19743, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: To isolate the impact of access to electricity on local economies, we examine the impact of the Rural Electrification Administration low-interest loans in the 1930s. The REA provided loans to cooperatives to lay distribution lines to farms and aid in wiring homes. Consequently, the number of rural farm homes electrified doubled in the United States within 5 years. We develop a panel data set for the 1930s and use changes within counties over time to identify the effect of the REA loans on a wide range of socio-economic measures. The REA loans contributed significantly to increases in crop output and crop productivity and helped stave off declines in overall farm output, productivity, and land values, but had much smaller effects on nonagricultural parts of the economy. The ex-ante subsidy from the low interest loans was large, but after the program was completed, nearly all of the loans were fully repaid, and the ultimate cost to the taxpayer was relatively low.

JEL-codes: N12 O13 O38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-eff, nep-ene and nep-his
Note: DAE
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published as Carl Kitchens & Price Fishback, 2015. "Flip the Switch: The Impact of the Rural Electrification Administration 1935–1940," The Journal of Economic History, vol 75(04), pages 1161-1195.

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