Does technical assistance alleviate energy poverty in sub-Saharan African countries? A new perspective on spatial spillover effects of technical assistance

Abstract

The sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region gathers the most vulnerable countries, which are criss-crossed geographically, making SSA countries extremely vulnerable to the influence of neighbouring countries. However, very few studies have considered the spillover effect of technical assistance in the recipient country. To fill the research gap, a dynamic space Dubin approach based on an asymmetric space weight matrix was developed. The results show the Moran's I value of technical assistance is positive, indicating that there is a positive correlation in space. Technical assistance is not unconditional free help, but with the strong subjective will of donor countries. SDM's estimation results show that the coefficient of the space lag term is greater than the coefficient of the time lag term, indicating that the spatial spillover effect can promote the power development of the recipient country more than the path dependence effect. Technical assistance to neighbouring countries can only improve the power development of the target country in the short term. In the long run, the mismatch effect of aid resources from neighbouring countries inhibits the power development of recipient countries. Therefore, technical assistance should be integrated with the situation of the recipient country in order to reduce energy poverty more effectively.