Power outages and economic growth in Africa

Andersen, Thomas Barnebeck; Dalgaard, Carl‐Johan

doi:10.1016/j.eneco.2013.02.016

Cited by 139 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…The economic implication of this unreliable electricity supply is estimated to account for a two per cent decline in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) [61], and by two to four per cent as productivity and output levels fall, according to the Africa-Progress-Panel [5]. This is consistent with the earlier conclusions of Andersen and Dalgaard [9], who state that a single percentage increase in power outages causes GDP per capita to decline by 2.86 per cent in the long run. The on-going electricity problem in sub-Saharan Africa appears immune to the mediations implemented so far.…”

Section: Unmet Electricity Markets In Sub-saharan Africasupporting

confidence: 79%

Leapfrogging to Renewable Energy: The Opportunity for Unmet Electricity Markets

Batinge

Musango

Brent

2017

SAJIE

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Electricity plays a crucial role in the socio-economic development of any country. Developing countries, however, unlike their developed counterparts, do not have electricity markets that are fully satisfied, nor are they 'laden' with large-scale infrastructure that could create inertia about making the transition. The objective of this paper is to identify the potential trajectories for unmet electricity markets in sub-Saharan Africa to leapfrog to renewable energy as they strive to accelerate access to electricity. The following key drivers of renewable energy leapfrogging in unmet electricity markets were identified from the review: the need to achieve sustainability targets; the availability of renewable energy resources on a sufficient scale; growing investment in renewable energy; maturing niche renewable technologies; a weakening renewable energy cost hypothesis; and a growing population and increasing urbanisation. The paper further conceptualised three potential transition paradigms: revolutionary, scattered, and coned pathways. These paradigms were defined by the pace and magnitude of the transition that can be observed, and depend on the intensity of the identified drivers in a specific unmet electricity market. The paper argues that the largely unmet electricity market in sub-Saharan Africa provides an opportunity to leapfrog the fossilintensive energy regime to adopt a renewable energy regime. OPSOMMINGElektrisiteit speel 'n belangrike rol in die sosio-ekonomiese ontwikkeling van enige land. In teenstelling met hul ontwikkelde eweknieë, is ontwikkelende lande se elektrisiteitsmarkte nog nie versadig nie, en is hulle ook boonop nie opgesaal met grootskaalse infrastruktuur wat oorgang sou vertraag nie. Die doel van hierdie artikel is om die potensiële trajekte vir onontginde elektrisiteitsmarkte in sub-Sahara-Afrika te identifiseer om oor te skakel na hernubare energie in hul strewe daarna om toegang tot elektrisiteit te versnel. Die behoefte om volhoubaarheidsdoelwitte te bereik word ondersoek, asook die beskikbaarheid van hernubare energiebronne op voldoende skaal; toenemende belegging in hernubare energie; die ontwikkeling van nie-hernubare tegnologie; die hipotese rakende die verminderde koste verbonde aan hernubare energie-infrakstruktuur; en die bevolkingsaanwas en verstedeliking. Die artikel stel ook 3 omskakeling-paradigmas voor: revolusionêre, verspreide of gefokusde roetes. Dit was gedefinieer deur die tempo en omvang van die omskakeling waargeneem, en hang af van die intensiteit van die geïdentifiseerde drywers in die mark. Die argument word gemaak dat die onbevredigde elektrisiteitsmark in die sub-Sahara mark geleenthede bied om die fosielbrandstof-intensiewe energie-opwekking verby te steek en sodoende 'n hernubare energie regime in werking te stel.

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Section: Unmet Electricity Markets In Sub-saharan Africasupporting

confidence: 79%

Leapfrogging to Renewable Energy: The Opportunity for Unmet Electricity Markets

Batinge

Musango

Brent

2017

SAJIE

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“…At the same time, it is important to account for absorption capacity constraints, which could hamper the quality and effectiveness of government outlays. Indeed, infrastructure spending itself may be inefficient due 3 See for instance Foster and Briceño-Garmendia (2010) and Andersen and Dalgaard (2013). The (in)appropriateness of the conventional PIH prescription has been discussed extensively in the literature; see Collier et al (2010), Gelb and Grassmann (2010), Gelb (2011), van der Ploeg (2011), Baunsgaard et al (2012), International Monetary Fund (2012, Lundgren et al (2013), and van den Bremer and van der Ploeg (2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal fiscal management of commodity price shocks

Agénor

2016

Journal of Development Economics

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A dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model is used to study the optimal fiscal response to commodity price shocks in a small open low-income country. The model accounts for imperfect access to world capital markets and a variety of externalities associated with public infrastructure, including utility benefits, a direct complementarity effect with private investment, and reduced distribution costs. However, public capital is also subject to congestion and absorption constraints, with the latter affecting the efficiency of infrastructure investment. The model is parameterized and used to examine the transmission process of a temporary resource price shock under a benchmark case (cash transfers) and alternative fiscal rules, involving either higher public spending or accumulation in a sovereign fund. The optimal allocation rule between spending today and asset accumulation is determined so as to minimize a social loss function defined in terms of the volatility, relative to the benchmark case, of private consumption and either the nonresource primary fiscal balance or a more general index of macroeconomic stability, which accounts for the volatility of the real exchange rate. Sensitivity analysis is conducted with respect to various structural parameters and model specification.

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“…To find this variable we refer to existing literature. Extant literature argues that that measuring correct GDP per capita and its growth rates poses a significant problem for African countries (Andersen & Dalgaard, 2013). In a similar vein, a number of studies argues that national IQs for African countries provided in Lynn and Vanhanen (2012) may contain measurement errors (Wicherts et al, 2010).…”

Section: Alternative Explanations Additional Controls and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Government size, intelligence and life satisfaction

Obydenkova

Salahodjaev

2017

Intelligence

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Highlights:-The article explores impact of government size and intelligence on life satisfaction -It finds a novel channel through which bureaucracy impacts subjective wellbeing -The government size impacts positively life-satisfaction in cognitively able societies -The paper contributes to the studies on political institutions and intelligenceGovernment size, intelligence and life satisfaction Abstract Recent studies show that psychological factors such as cognitive ability play an important role in the empirical modeling of life satisfaction and suggest that intelligence is an important proxy for political and intellectual capital. These articles, however, only explore the direct effect of intelligence on subjective wellbeing. In this study, we conjecture that intellectual capital is a mechanism through which the size of bureaucracy impacts life satisfaction. Using data from 147 countries, we find that the interaction term between nation-IQ and government size is positive and significant, suggesting that government size increases life satisfaction most in high-IQ countries and least in countries with lower levels of cognitive abilities.3

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Power outages and economic growth in Africa

Cited by 139 publications

References 17 publications

Leapfrogging to Renewable Energy: The Opportunity for Unmet Electricity Markets

Leapfrogging to Renewable Energy: The Opportunity for Unmet Electricity Markets

Optimal fiscal management of commodity price shocks

Government size, intelligence and life satisfaction

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