Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

3-2020

Abstract

We use contemporaneous and retrospective panel datasets to examine the household-level relationship between fertility and access to electricity in Bangladesh. We find that access to electricity reduces fertility by about 0.2 children over a period of five years or total fertility rate by about 1.2 in most estimates. This finding is robust with respect to the choice of the estimation method, the choice of sample, and potential presence of endogeneity. The finding also corroborates the theoretical predictions on time use and consumption pattern derived from our model of electrification and fertility. The results also suggest that television is an important impact channel. The study findings underscore the importance of examining a broad and long-term impact of rural electrification and possibly other infrastructure interventions.

Keywords

Bangladesh, Infrastructure, Television, Difference-in-differences, Retrospective panel data

Discipline

Asian Studies | Behavioral Economics

Research Areas

Applied Microeconomics

Publication

Journal of Development Economics

Volume

143

First Page

1

Last Page

15

ISSN

0304-3878

Identifier

10.1016/j.jdeveco.2019.102430

Publisher

Elsevier

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2019.102430

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