Can Solar Lanterns Improve Youth Academic Performance? Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh

Abstract

We conducted an experimental intervention in unelectrified areas of northern Bangladesh to investigate the effectiveness of solar products in improving children’s educational achievement. We found that treated households substituted solar lanterns for kerosene-based lighting products, helping to decrease total household expenditure. Solar lanterns increased the children’s home-study hours, particularly at night and before exams. The solar lanterns initially led to an increase in school attendance, but this effect diminished over time. However, the increased study hours and initial improvement in school attendance did not translate into improved academic performance. Varying the number of solar products within the treated households did not alter these results. Analyses that exploited the school grade treatment intensity also provided no evidence suggesting that spillover effects explained the “no academic performance effects.” These findings suggest that improving the home-study environment solely through the provision of solar products may have a limited impact on children’s educational achievement.

School electrification and academic outcomes in rural Kenya

“…While the It is thus unlikely that the treatment would have had any positive effects on academic performance. These results are similar to those reported in an experimental setting in Bangladesh where outcomes were muted (Kudo, Shonchoy and Takahashi, 2017).…”

“…However, there is mixed evidence on the effects on academic performance. These papers include Furukawa (2014), Barron and Torero (2014), Arráiz and Calero (2015), Kudo and Takahashi (2017), Hassan and Lucchino (2017), Aevarsdottir, Barton, and Bold (2017).…”

Structural Transformation, Agriculture, Climate, and the Environment

“…There is, however, no consensus on how renewable energy technologies might impact behaviors and welfare in currently-off-grid rural areas. For example, studies in Bangladesh (Kudo et al 2019), Rwanda (Grimm et al 2017), Uganda (Furukawa 2014) and Zambia (Stojanovski et al 2018) find uneven impacts of solar lighting on children's education and academic performance. And there is suggestive evidence of heterogeneous treatment effects even within local areas.…”

The need for impact evaluation in electricity access research

“…Also, we include household expenditures on specific fuels such as LPG, electricity and kerosene. Some studies focus specifically on expenditures on kerosene which is the main source of backup lighting where electricity is not reliably accessible (Kudo, Shonchoy, and Takahashi, 2017;Lee, Miguel, and Wolfram, 2018).…”

“…Electrification is expected to have an independent and complementary effect on educational opportunities (Khandker, Barnes, and Samad, 2013). To measure the educational effects, studies rely on indicators ranging from study hours (Agoramoorthy and Hsu, 2009) and academic achievements (Kudo, Shonchoy, and Takahashi, 2017) to school enrollment rates (Khandker, Barnes, and Samad, 2013). Our classification of education encompasses all these indicators.…”