Electrification and Firm Performance in Rural Benin: An Ex-Ante Impact Assessment
This chapter investigates the impact of electricity on the performance of micro-enterprises by comparing the performance of firms in grid-covered and non-covered villages in Northern Benin. Using firm-level data, the empirical analysis employs Propensity Score Matching techniques. While beneficial impacts are found from firm creation after electrification, firms that existed before actually show a non-significantly inferior performance to their matched counterparts from a non-electrified region. Complementary measures that sensitise firms about the implications of a grid connection are recommended as important features of programme design.
Peters, J., C. Vance Ph.D. und M. Harsdorff (2013), Electrification and Firm Performance in Rural Benin: An Ex-Ante Impact Assessment. In Lucius Mayer-Tasch, Mohua Mukherjee und Kilian Reiche (Hrsg.), Productive Use of Energy - PRODUSE. Measuring Impacts of Electrification on Small and Micro-Enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa. Eschborn: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), 51-73.