IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mns/wpaper/wp201510.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Bribes, Bureaucracies and Blackouts: Towards Understanding How Corruption at the Firm Level Impacts Electricity Reliability

Author

Listed:
  • Jacquelyn Pless

    (Division of Economics and Business, Colorado School of Mines)

  • Harrison Fell

    (Division of Economics and Business, Colorado School of Mines)

Abstract

This paper looks at whether bribes for electricity connections affect electricity reliability. Using detailed firm-level data, we estimate various specifications based upon repeated cross-sections and means-based pseudo-panels to show that bribes are closely related to poorer electricity reliability. We find that the propensity to bribe for an electricity connection is associated with an increase of 20 power outages per month and a 28% increase in annual sales lost due to power outages on average. The results parallel a tragedy of the commons story: electricity, which exhibits common-pool resource characteristics, suffers from overexploitation as self-interested individual firms rationally bribe for electricity, creating negative impacts in aggregate on the overall quality of the resource. Given the importance of electricity reliability for economic growth and development, the findings imply that improving oversight and enforcement measures at the consumer level targeting the reduction of bribery for electricity connections could contribute to growth and development.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacquelyn Pless & Harrison Fell, 2015. "Bribes, Bureaucracies and Blackouts: Towards Understanding How Corruption at the Firm Level Impacts Electricity Reliability," Working Papers 2015-10, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:mns:wpaper:wp201510
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://econbus-papers.mines.edu/working-papers/wp201510.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2015
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Joskow & Jean Tirole, 2007. "Reliability and competitive electricity markets," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 38(1), pages 60-84, March.
    2. Johnson, Simon & Kaufmann, Daniel & McMillan, John & Woodruff, Christopher, 2000. "Why do firms hide? Bribes and unofficial activity after communism," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 495-520, June.
    3. Simon Johnson & Daniel Kaufman & Andrei Shleifer, 1997. "The Unofficial Economy in Transition," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 28(2), pages 159-240.
    4. Huang, Biao, 2007. "The Use of Pseudo Panel Data for Forecasting Car Ownership," MPRA Paper 7086, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Estache, Antonio & Goicoechea, Ana & Trujillo, Lourdes, 2009. "Utilities reforms and corruption in developing countries," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 191-202, June.
    6. Rud, Juan Pablo, 2012. "Electricity provision and industrial development: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 352-367.
    7. Depuru, Soma Shekara Sreenadh Reddy & Wang, Lingfeng & Devabhaktuni, Vijay, 2011. "Electricity theft: Overview, issues, prevention and a smart meter based approach to control theft," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 1007-1015, February.
    8. Swamy, Anand & Knack, Stephen & Lee, Young & Azfar, Omar, 2001. "Gender and corruption," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 25-55, February.
    9. Verbeek, Marno & Nijman, Theo, 1992. "Can Cohort Data Be Treated as Genuine Panel Data?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 9-23.
    10. 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.
    11. Dal Bo, Ernesto & Rossi, Martin A., 2007. "Corruption and inefficiency: Theory and evidence from electric utilities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(5-6), pages 939-962, June.
    12. Deaton, Angus, 1985. "Panel data from time series of cross-sections," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1-2), pages 109-126.
    13. Francisca Antman & David J. McKenzie, 2007. "Earnings Mobility and Measurement Error: A Pseudo-Panel Approach," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(1), pages 125-161, October.
    14. Liam Wren-Lewis, 2015. "Do Infrastructure Reforms Reduce the Effect of Corruption? Theory and Evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 29(2), pages 353-384.
    15. James H. Anderson & Cheryl W. Gray, 2006. "Anticorruption in Transition 3 : Who is Succeeding... and Why?," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7089, December.
    16. Bah, El-hadj & Fang, Lei, 2015. "Impact of the business environment on output and productivity in Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 159-171.
    17. Andersen, Thomas Barnebeck & Dalgaard, Carl-Johan, 2013. "Power outages and economic growth in Africa," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 19-23.
    18. Fisman, Raymond & Svensson, Jakob, 2007. "Are corruption and taxation really harmful to growth? Firm level evidence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 63-75, May.
    19. Johnson, Simon & Kaufmann, Daniel & Zoido-Lobaton, Pablo, 1998. "Regulatory Discretion and the Unofficial Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 387-392, May.
    20. Stalon, Charles G., 1997. "Electric industry governance: Reconciling competitive power markets and the physics of complex transmission interconnections," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1-2), pages 47-83, March.
    21. Mishra, Vinod & Smyth, Russell & Sharma, Susan, 2009. "The energy-GDP nexus: Evidence from a panel of Pacific Island countries," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 210-220, August.
    22. James May & William Pyle & Paul Sommers, 2002. "Does Governance Explain Unofficial Activity?," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0201, Middlebury College, Department of Economics.
    23. El-Hadj Bah & Lei Fang, 2015. "Working Paper - 219 - Impact of the business Environment on Output and Productivity in Africa," Working Paper Series 2159, African Development Bank.
    24. Kessides, C., 1993. "The Contributions of Infrastructure to Economic Development, A review of Experience and Policy Implications," World Bank - Discussion Papers 213, World Bank.
    25. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5135 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Seung-Hyun Lee & Kyeungrae Oh & Lorraine Eden, 2010. "Why Do Firms Bribe?," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 50(6), pages 775-796, December.
    27. Smith, Thomas B., 2004. "Electricity theft: a comparative analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(18), pages 2067-2076, December.
    28. Dollar, David & Fisman, Raymond & Gatti, Roberta, 2001. "Are women really the "fairer" sex? Corruption and women in government," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 423-429, December.
    29. Verbeek, M.J.C.M. & Nijman, T.E., 1992. "Can cohort data be treated as genuine panel data?," Other publications TiSEM d4eada8f-b91c-4fe7-a58c-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    30. Dargay, Joyce, 2007. "The effect of prices and income on car travel in the UK," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(10), pages 949-960, December.
    31. Anton Eberhard & Vivien Foster & Cecilia Briceño-Garmendia & Fatimata Ouedraogo & Daniel Camos & Maria Shkaratan, 2008. "Underpowered : The State of the Power Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Bank Publications - Reports 7833, The World Bank Group.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Adewuyi, Adeolu & Emmanuel, Zachariah, 2018. "Electricity Outages and Firm Performance Across the Six Geo-Political Zones in Nigeria: The Role of Corruption," MPRA Paper 92089, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 03 Feb 2019.
    2. Zaman, Rafia & Brudermann, Thomas, 2018. "Energy governance in the context of energy service security: A qualitative assessment of the electricity system in Bangladesh," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 443-456.
    3. Islam, Asif & Hyland, Marie, 2019. "The drivers and impacts of water infrastructure reliability – a global analysis of manufacturing firms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 143-157.
    4. Emmanuel, Zachariah & Anga, Rosemary A. & Isa, Charity G., 2019. "The Determinants of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises’ (MSMEs) Performance in Nigeria: Evidence from Business Enterprise Survey," MPRA Paper 98874, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Paudel, Jayash, 2016. "Community-Managed Forests and Household Welfare: Empirical Evidence from Nepal," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235481, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Gideon Otchere-Appiah & Shingo Takahashi & Mavis Serwaa Yeboah & Yuichiro Yoshida, 2021. "The Impact of Smart Prepaid Metering on Non-Technical Losses in Ghana," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-16, March.
    7. Rohan Best & Paul J. Burke, 2017. "The Importance of Government Effectiveness for Transitions toward Greater Electrification in Developing Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-17, August.
    8. Adewuyi, Adeolu & Emmanuel, Zachariah, 2018. "Electricity Outages and Firm Performance Across the Six Geo-Political Zones in Nigeria: The Role of Corruption," MPRA Paper 92091, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 04 Feb 2019.
    9. Hashemi, Majid & Jenkins, Glenn, 2022. "Can privatization of distribution substations improve electricity reliability for non-residential customers? An application to Nepal," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    10. Farzan Yahya & Muhammad Rafiq, 2020. "Brownfield, greenfield, and renewable energy consumption: Moderating role of effective governance," Energy & Environment, , vol. 31(3), pages 405-423, May.
    11. Grimley, Matthew & Chan, Gabriel, 2023. "“Cooperative is an oxymoron!”: A polycentric energy transition perspective on distributed energy deployment in the Upper Midwestern United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    12. Majid Hashemi & Glenn Jenkins, 2021. "The Economic Benefits of Mitigating the Risk of Unplanned Power Outages," Working Paper 1468, Economics Department, Queen's University.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Imam, M. & Jamasb, T. & Llorca, M. & Llorca, M., 2018. "Power Sector Reform and Corruption: Evidence from Electricity Industry in Sub-Saharan Africa," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1801, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    2. Adewuyi, Adeolu & Emmanuel, Zachariah, 2018. "Electricity Outages and Firm Performance Across the Six Geo-Political Zones in Nigeria: The Role of Corruption," MPRA Paper 92091, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 04 Feb 2019.
    3. Adewuyi, Adeolu & Emmanuel, Zachariah, 2018. "Electricity Outages and Firm Performance Across the Six Geo-Political Zones in Nigeria: The Role of Corruption," MPRA Paper 92089, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 03 Feb 2019.
    4. Chang, Chong-Chuo, 2023. "The impact of quality of institutions on firm performance: A global analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 694-716.
    5. Cummins, Mark & Gillanders, Robert, 2020. "Greasing the Turbines? Corruption and access to electricity in Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    6. Artūras Juodis, 2018. "Pseudo Panel Data Models With Cohort Interactive Effects," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(1), pages 47-61, January.
    7. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5135 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Koksal, Aycan & Wohlgenant, Michael, 2013. "Pseudo Panel Data Estimation Technique and Rational Addiction Model: An Analysis of Tobacco, Alcohol and Coffee Demands," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150457, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Lusi Liao & Sasiwimon Warunsiri Paweenawat, 2021. "The inversion of married women's labour supply and wage: Evidence from Thailand," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 35(1), pages 82-98, May.
    10. Marco Lilla, 2016. "Falling Behind or Catching Up? Cross-Country Evidence in Intra-Generational Wages Mobility through Pseudo-Panels," LIS Working papers 669, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    11. Daniel Bukstein & Nestor Gandelman, 2014. "Intra-Generational Social Mobility and Entrepreneurship in Uruguay," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 51(2), pages 227-245, November.
    12. Chi-Hong (Patrick) Tsai & Corinne Mulley & Geoffrey Clifton, 2014. "A Review of Pseudo Panel Data Approach in Estimating Short-run and Long-run Public Transport Demand Elasticities," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 102-121, January.
    13. Imam, Mahmud I. & Jamasb, Tooraj & Llorca, Manuel, 2019. "Sector reforms and institutional corruption: Evidence from electricity industry in Sub-Saharan Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 532-545.
    14. Böhringer, Christoph & García-Muros, Xaquín & González-Eguino, Mikel, 2022. "Who bears the burden of greening electricity?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    15. Kengo Igei, 2018. "Managing Were the Adverse Effects of Disability on Employment Mitigated during 2002-2015 in South Africa?: A Pseudo-Panel Approach," Working Papers 168, JICA Research Institute.
    16. Mahmud I Imam & Tooraj Jamasb & Manuel Llorca, 2019. "Political Economy of Reform and Regulation in the Electricity Sector of Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers EPRG1917, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    17. Sasiwimon Warunsiri Paweenawat & Robert McNown, 2018. "A synthetic cohort analysis of female labour supply: the case of Thailand," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(5), pages 527-544, January.
    18. Warunsiri, Sasiwimon & McNown, Robert, 2010. "The Returns to Education in Thailand: A Pseudo-Panel Approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 1616-1625, November.
    19. Siqi Song & Chen-Chieh Feng & Mi Diao, 2020. "Vehicle quota control, transport infrastructure investment and vehicle travel: A pseudo panel analysis," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(12), pages 2527-2546, September.
    20. Sasiwimon Warunsiri Paweenawat & Lusi Liao, 2019. "“Gold Miss†or “Earthy Mom†? Evidence from Thailand," PIER Discussion Papers 110, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    21. Brian Colgan, 2023. "EU-SILC and the potential for synthetic panel estimates," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(3), pages 1247-1280, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    corruption; electricity; reliability; quality of government; institutions; common-pool resource;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • Q4 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:mns:wpaper:wp201510. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Jared Carbone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/decsmus.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.