Rural Electrification and Employment in Poor Countries: Evidence from Nicaragua

This paper shows that rural electrification is associated with big changes in the time use of men and women in Nicaragua, even in the absence of labor-saving appliances. Electricity is shown to increase the propensity of rural Nicaraguan women to work outside the home by about 23%, but to have no impact on male employment. These findings suggest significant potential benefits to rural electrification that are not generally captured in cost-benefit analyses, such as greater women's earnings and reduced deforestation.