Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions

Experimental Evidence on the Costs of and Demand for Electricity in Kenya

Date and Time
Thursday, October 8, 2015 - 7:15 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.
Location
Building 09/CR 137, RTI International

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Sponsored by the Triangle Resource and Environmental Economics Seminar Series

Electricity distribution is the canonical example of a natural monopoly. Ted Miguel, Oxfam Professor in Environmental and Resource Economics in the Department of Economics at the University of California-Berkeley and the Faculty Director of the Center for Effective Global Action, will provide experimental evidence on both the economies of scale in electrical grid expansion, and consumer demand for a grid connection. The study setting is 150 rural communities in Kenya, a country where the electrical grid is rapidly expanding, as is also the case in many other African settings, where half of the world's 1.3 billion people without electricity live. 

Dr. Miguel's main research focus is African economic development, including work on the economic causes and consequences of violence; the impact of ethnic divisions on local collective action; interactions between health, education, environment, and productivity for the poor; and methods for transparent social science research. He has conducted field work in Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and India.