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The impact of rural electrification on income and education: Evidence from Bhutan
Author(s) -
Kumar Santosh,
Rauniyar Ganesh
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
review of development economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.531
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1467-9361
pISSN - 1363-6669
DOI - 10.1111/rode.12378
Subject(s) - nonfarm payrolls , economics , rural electrification , welfare , propensity score matching , electrification , matching (statistics) , impact evaluation , demographic economics , labour economics , socioeconomics , electricity , agriculture , geography , medicine , statistics , mathematics , archaeology , engineering , pathology , electrical engineering , market economy
We investigate the impact of a rural electrification program on household income and children's schooling in rural Bhutan. Using propensity score matching, we find that electrification had a statistically significant impact on nonfarm income and education. Nonfarm income increased by 61 percent and children gained 0.72 additional years of schooling and 9 minutes of study time per day. We do not observe significant effects on farm income. Results are consistent and robust to different matching algorithms. Our findings indicate that investments in reducing energy deficit may help improve human welfare in Bhutan.