Faculty Fellow Taryn Dinkleman recently published the article “Understanding the gradual adoption of electricity in Rural South Africa” in the journal International Growth Centre.
The article examines how rural households in South Africa adopt electrical appliances after gaining access to the grid.
Her team found that even with free basic electricity connections, the costs of appliances and necessary electrical upgrades pose significant barriers for low income households. This means that it typically takes between 4 and 14 years after electrification for at least half of rural households to begin using appliances.
In order to accelerate appliance adoption, Dinkleman says that policies should focus on improving access to credit and providing subsidies for appliances rather than solely increasing household incomes.
Dinkleman is an associate professor of economics at the University of Notre Dame who specialized in development and labor economics with a focus on Africa. Her work identifies barriers that prevent workers in developing countries from realizing the full value of their labor.