Impacts of Rural Electrifi cation in Rwanda

Abstract

Rural electrifi cation is believed to contribute to the achievement of the MDG. In this paper, we investigate electrifi cation impacts on diff erent indicators. We use household data that we collected in Rwanda in villages with and without electricity access. We account for self-selection and regional diff erences by using households from the electrifi ed villages to estimate the probability to connect for all households – including those in the non-electrifi ed villages. Based on these probabilities we identify counterfactual households and fi nd robust evidence for positive eff ects on lighting usage. Eff ects on income and children’s home studying become insignifi cant if regional diff erences are accounted for.Rural electrifi cation; energy access; impact evaluation; matching