Publication: Productivity Losses and Firm Responses to Electricity Shortages: Evidence from Ghana
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Date
2019-11-02
ISSN
0258-6770 (print)
1564-698X (online)
1564-698X (online)
Published
2019-11-02
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Abstract
One of the commonly cited obstacles to firms’ operations in developing economies is inadequate access to electricity. This paper explores the impact of electricity outages on firm productivity using arguably exogenous variation in outages, induced by an electricity rationing program, across small and medium-sized Ghanaian manufacturing firms. The results indicate that eliminating outages in this setting could lead to an increase in firm productivity. Further analyses of the strategies firms use to cope with outages show that changing the firm's product mix to favor less electricity-intensive products mitigates the negative impacts of outages on productivity. However, using a generator, a common strategy in many parts of the world, is unable to insulate firms from the negative impacts of outages on productivity.
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“Abeberese, Ama Baafra; Ackah, Charles Godfred; Asuming, Patrick Opoku. 2019. Productivity Losses and Firm Responses to Electricity Shortages: Evidence from Ghana. World Bank Economic Review. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/40275 License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO .”
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