Rural Electrification and Employment in Poor Countries: Evidence from Nicaragua

Abstract

This paper shows that rural electrification is associated with big changes in the time use of men and women in Nicaragua, even in the absence of labor-saving appliances. Electricity is shown to increase the propensity of rural Nicaraguan women to work outside the home by about 23%, but to have no impact on male employment. These findings suggest significant potential benefits to rural electrification that are not generally captured in cost–benefit analyses, such as greater women’s earnings and reduced deforestation.

Keywords: electric light, time use, employment, labor-saving technology, slope gradient, population density