Productivity Losses and Firm Responses to Electricity Shortages: Evidence from Ghana
利用加纳中小制造企业数据，研究发现电力中断会降低企业生产率，而调整产品结构转向低电力密集型产品可缓解负面影响，但使用发电机无法有效应对。
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.