Abstract
We believe the massive rural electrification, which began in 1992, played a significant role in the varying fertility rates across rural Ghana. Rural households with electricity, tend to have fewer children ever born to a woman than households without electricity. Using control function regressions, we identify the contribution of electrification to the rural-rural variation in fertility by exploiting the exogenous variations in the access rate to electricity at the district-level. Our results indicate that electrification contributes to a fall in fertility among rural women by between one and three children. These results are qualitatively similar to results from our two-stage least squares estimations and counterfactual analysis. Although our results may not reflect what happens in other countries, they suggest that electrification reduces fertility and should be considered when examining the costs and benefits of rural electrification programs in developing countries.
Highlights
Ghana experienced a rapid decline in fertility after 1992
To check the stability of our results, we investigate the counterfactual effect of rural electrification on fertility
We investigate the counterfactual effect of rural electrification on fertility
Summary
Ghana experienced a rapid decline in fertility after 1992. There still exists a rural-urban difference and a rural-rural variation in fertility. It appears the massive rural electrification program in 1992 contributed significantly to the observed rural-rural difference in fertility. For many developing countries like Ghana, the debate remains whether large-scale family planning programs or economic development triggers the fertility transition (Grimm et al 2015; Bongaarts and Casterline 2013). It appears electrification affects both and they, in turn, affect fertility
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