This article was published in la Revue d’économie du développement
Access to electricity remains a major problem in developing countries, especially in rural areas. Yet, we know that this source of energy has important benefits for a country; and this, both at the macroeconomic level (development and economic growth, poverty reduction, etc.) and at the microeconomic level (improved quality of life and productivity, social development, employment, security). In contrast, few studies assess the effect of access to electricity on children’s well-being.
In this study, we analyse how access to electricity affects children’s well-being through the allocation of their time in the different activities of domestic production (production of goods and production of services) and their leisure time. We assume that the use of power tools can be a source of time savings in the production of certain goods and services, which often involve child labor. If our hypothesis is true, the extra time saved in completing tasks will be allocated to leisure activities, generating better satisfaction and well-being for children.
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