Starting a Non-Farm Enterprise to Escape Energy Poverty: Household Level Evidence from Rural West Africa
研究利用西非八国数据，发现农村非农创业显著促进家庭采用液化石油气（LPG）清洁燃料，通过提升金融包容性缓解流动性约束，为减少能源贫困提供新路径。
The choice of cooking fuel is a critical economic and health decision for rural households, with significant implications for well-being and environmental sustainability. This paper examines whether rural non-farm entrepreneurship promotes the adoption of cleaner cooking fuels, specifically liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Using large, nationally representative data from eight WAEMU countries – Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo – we apply econometric techniques to address endogeneity and selection bias. Our findings show that households engaged in non-farm entrepreneurial activities are significantly more likely to adopt LPG. We further show that non-farm entrepreneurship enhances financial inclusion by improving access to microfinance, mobile banking, and informal savings groups (ROSCAs), thereby easing liquidity constraints that limit investments in clean energy. These results suggest that promoting rural non-farm enterprises, along with expanding financial services and infrastructure, can effectively reduce energy poverty and improve health outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa.