The Impact of Electricity on Economic Development: A Macroeconomic Perspective
Electricity use and access are strongly correlated with economic development
Abstract
We find that electricity use and access are strongly correlated with economic development, as theory would suggest. Despite large empirical literatures and suggestive case evidence, there are, however, few methodologically strong studies that establish causal effects on an economy-wide basis. There is some evidence that reliability of electricity supply is important for economic growth. We propose that future research focuses on identifying the causal effects of electricity reliability, infrastructure, and access on economic growth; testing the replicability of the literature; and deepening our theoretical understanding of how lack of availability of electricity can be a constraint to growth.
This research was supported by the UK Department for International Development’s Energy and Economic Growth Applied Research Programme.
Citation
Stern, D. Burke, P. Bruns, S. (2016) The Impact of Electricity on Economic Development: A Macroeconomic Perspective, Oxford Policy Management.
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