IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/dbl/dblwop/218.html

Development effects of electrification: evidence from the geologic placement of hydropower plants in Brazil

Author

Listed:
  • Lipscomb, Molly
  • Mobarak Mushfiq, Ahmed
  • Bahram, Tania

Abstract

We estimate the development effects of electrification across Brazil over the period 1960-2000. Brazil relies almost exclusively on hydropower, which requires intercepting water at high velocity. We build an engineering model which takes as inputs only geography (river gradient, water flow and Amazon) and simulates a time series of hypothetical electricity grids for Brazil that show how the grid would have evolved had infrastructure investments been made based solely on geologic cost considerations, ignoring all demand-side concerns. Using the model as an instrument, we document large positive effects of electrification on development that are underestimated when one fails to account for the political allocation of infrastructure projects or its targeting to under-developed areas. Broad-based improvement in labor productivity across sectors and areas rather than general equilibrium re-sorting (in-migration to electrified counties) appears to be the likely mechanism by which these development gains are realized.

Suggested Citation

  • Lipscomb, Molly & Mobarak Mushfiq, Ahmed & Bahram, Tania, 2011. "Development effects of electrification: evidence from the geologic placement of hydropower plants in Brazil," Research Department working papers 218, CAF Development Bank Of Latinamerica.
    • Handle: RePEc:dbl:dblwop:218
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://scioteca.caf.com/handle/123456789/218
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Catherine Wolfram & Orie Shelef & Paul Gertler, 2012. "How Will Energy Demand Develop in the Developing World?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(1), pages 119-138, Winter.
    2. Fisher-Vanden, Karen & Mansur, Erin T. & Wang, Qiong (Juliana), 2015. "Electricity shortages and firm productivity: Evidence from China's industrial firms," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 172-188.
    3. Alby, Philippe & Dethier, Jean-Jacques & Straub, Stéphane, 2011. "Let there be Light! Firms Operating under Electricity Constraints in Developing Countries," TSE Working Papers 11-255, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    4. van de Walle, Dominique & Ravallion, Martin & Mendiratta, Vibhuti & Koolwal, Gayatri, 2013. "Long-term impacts of household electrification in rural India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6527, The World Bank.
    5. Alan Fuchs & Paul Gertler & Orie Shelef & Catherine Wolfram, 2013. "Poverty, Growth and the Demand for Energy-Using Assets," Discussion Papers 13-004, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    6. Jagnani, Maulik & Khanna, Gaurav, 2020. "The effects of elite public colleges on primary and secondary schooling markets in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    7. Chakravorty, Ujjayant & Pelli, Martino & Ural Marchand, Beyza, 2014. "Does the quality of electricity matter? Evidence from rural India," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 107(PA), pages 228-247.
    8. Grogan, Louise & Sadanand, Asha, 2013. "Rural Electrification and Employment in Poor Countries: Evidence from Nicaragua," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 252-265.
    9. Kumar, Santosh & Rauniyar, Ganesh, 2011. "Is electrification welfare improving?: non-experimental evidence from rural Bhutan," MPRA Paper 31482, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Eliana Carranza & Robyn Meeks, 2021. "Energy Efficiency and Electricity Reliability," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 103(3), pages 461-475, July.
    11. 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.
    12. Gray, Rowena, 2013. "Taking technology to task: The skill content of technological change in early twentieth century United States," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 351-367.
    13. Daniela L√≥pez Cajiao, 2018. "Lightning the future of education in Brazil: the impact of rural electrification on educational outcomes," Documentos CEDE 16817, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    14. Borge, Lars-Erik & Parmer, Pernille & Torvik, Ragnar, 2015. "Local natural resource curse?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 101-114.
    15. Paul J. Gertler & Orie Shelef & Catherine D. Wolfram & Alan Fuchs, 2016. "The Demand for Energy-Using Assets among the World's Rising Middle Classes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(6), pages 1366-1401, June.
    16. Rao, Narasimha D., 2013. "Does (better) electricity supply increase household enterprise income in India?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 532-541.
    17. Alby, Philippe & Dethier, Jean-Jacques & Straub, Stephane, 2010. "Firms operating under infrastructure and credit constraints in developing countries : the case of power generators," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5497, The World Bank.
    18. Paul Gertler & Orie Shelef & Catherine Wolfram & Alan Fuchs, 2013. "How Pro-Poor Growth Affects the Demand for Energy," NBER Working Papers 19092, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dbl:dblwop:218. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Pablo Rolando (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cafffve.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.