Does energy poverty moderate the impact of economic freedom on the quality of life in Africa? A panel quantile via moment approach

Abstract

We examine the interactive effects of economic freedom and energy poverty across different conditional distributions on the quality of life in Africa. We find that free market economies with adequate supplies of electricity significantly improves the quality of life in the region. The effectiveness of economic freedom policy and access to electricity is more noticeable among countries with a lower quality of life, which suggests that if the qualities of institutions in poor African countries were strengthened and there were a constant supply of energy, the vast majority of Africans would prosper.