Article

Firms Operating under Electricity Constraints in Developing Countries?

Philippe Alby, Jean-Jacques Dethier et Stéphane Straub

Résumé

Many developing countries are unable to provide their industrial sectors with reliable electric power, with the result that many enterprises must contend with an insufficient and unreliable supply of electricity. Because of these constraints, enterprises often opt for self-generation of electricity even though it is widely considered a second-best solution. This paper develops a theoretical model of investment behavior in remedial infrastructure in the presence of physical constraints. It then illustrates the model's predictions using a large cross-country sample of enterprises from the World Bank Enterprise Survey database. Electricity-intensive sectors in high-outage countries are characterized by a significantly lower share of small firms.

Mots-clés

Infrastructure; Electricity; Industrial structure;

Codes JEL

  • H54: Infrastructures • Other Public Investment and Capital Stock
  • L94: Electric Utilities
  • L16: Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics: Industrial Structure and Structural Change • Industrial Price Indices

Remplace

Philippe Alby, Jean-Jacques Dethier et Stéphane Straub, « Let there be Light! Firms Operating under Electricity Constraints in Developing Countries », TSE Working Paper, n° 11-255, juillet 2011.

Référence

Philippe Alby, Jean-Jacques Dethier et Stéphane Straub, « Firms Operating under Electricity Constraints in Developing Countries? », The World Bank Economic Review, vol. 27, n° 1, 2013, p. 109–132.

Publié dans

The World Bank Economic Review, vol. 27, n° 1, 2013, p. 109–132