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The Role of Publicly Provided Electricity in Economic Development: The Experience of the Tennessee Valley Authority, 1929–1955

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  • Kitchens, Carl

Abstract

I study the impacts of one of the largest regional development projects in American History, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), on a variety of economic outcomes. The TVA has been noted as an example of how to develop a region's water power potential to stimulate growth. In what follows, I show using a county-level panel dataset, that the TVA had little impact on economic growth in the South. I attribute these results to the institutional history of the TVA and the contractual agreements it signed in an effort to expand its service territory. “…as a pebble dropped in a pond causes ripples to flow outward to the surrounding shores, the influence of TVA'slow rates flows outward to surrounding areas…†TVA's Influence on Electric Rates 1965

Suggested Citation

  • Kitchens, Carl, 2014. "The Role of Publicly Provided Electricity in Economic Development: The Experience of the Tennessee Valley Authority, 1929–1955," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(2), pages 389-419, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:74:y:2014:i:02:p:389-419_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Jaworski, Taylor, 2017. "World War II and the Industrialization of the American South," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 77(4), pages 1048-1082, December.
    2. Kitchens, Carl T. & Jaworski, Taylor, 2017. "Ownership and the price of residential electricity: Evidence from the United States, 1935–1940," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 53-61.
    3. Daniela Vidart, 2021. "Human Capital, Female Employment, and Electricity: Evidence from the Early 20th Century United States," Working papers 2021-08, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised Sep 2022.
    4. Taylor Jaworski & Carl T. Kitchens, 2019. "National Policy for Regional Development: Historical Evidence from Appalachian Highways," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(5), pages 777-790, December.
    5. Price V. Fishback & John Joseph Wallis, 2012. "What Was New About the New Deal?," NBER Working Papers 18271, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Enrico Moretti, 2014. "Local Economic Development, Agglomeration Economies, and the Big Push: 100 Years of Evidence from the Tennessee Valley Authority," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 129(1), pages 275-331.
    7. Gaggl, Paul & Gray, Rowena & Marinescu, Ioana & Morin, Miguel, 2021. "Does electricity drive structural transformation? Evidence from the United States," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    8. Devin Caughey & Sara Chatfield, 2020. "Causal inference and American political development: contrasts and complementarities," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 185(3), pages 359-376, December.
    9. Carl Kitchens & Price Fishback, 2013. "Flip the Switch: The Spatial Impact of the Rural Electrification Administration 1935-1940," NBER Working Papers 19743, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Carl Kitchens, 2014. "The use of eminent domain in land assembly: The case of the Tennessee Valley Authority," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 160(3), pages 455-466, September.
    11. Price Fishback, 2017. "How Successful Was the New Deal? The Microeconomic Impact of New Deal Spending and Lending Policies in the 1930s," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1435-1485, December.
    12. Severnini, Edson R., 2014. "The Power of Hydroelectric Dams: Agglomeration Spillovers," IZA Discussion Papers 8082, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Björn Brey, 2021. "The long-run gains from the early adoption of electricity," Discussion Papers 2021-05, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    14. Bo, Shiyu & Chen, Ting & Liu, Cong, 2022. "Trade shocks, industrial growth, and electrification in early 20th-century China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 732-749.
    15. Kyle Butts, 2021. "Difference-in-Differences Estimation with Spatial Spillovers," Papers 2105.03737, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2023.
    16. Theodore F. Figinski & Erin Troland, 2020. "Health Insurance and Hospital Supply: Evidence from 1950s Coal Country," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2020-033, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).

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