The Impact of Rural Electrification on Education: A Case Study from Peru

Abstract

This study examines the indirect impact of rural electrification on education. It finds that the greater the likelihood of a household being connected to the electricity grid, the more time the household’s children are likely to spend studying at home. This finding is interpreted as indirect evidence of an improvement in levels of schooling. Using instrumental variables to overcome endogeneity problems, the study’s LATE estimates reveal that providing households with access to electricity leads to children studying an extra 94 - 137 minutes at home per day, on average.