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

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 dec...

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Main Authors:	Kudo, Yuya, Shonchoy, Abu S., Takahashi, Kazushi
Format:	Journal Article
Published:	Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank 2020
Subjects:	RENEWABLE ENERGY CLEAN ENERGY SOLAR ENERGY SOLAR LIGHT RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIAL STUDENT PERFORMANCE EDUCATION HOME STUDY ENVIRONMENT
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34872

id	okr-10986-34872
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-348722021-04-23T14:02:10Z Can Solar Lanterns Improve Youth Academic Performance? Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh Kudo, Yuya Shonchoy, Abu S. Takahashi, Kazushi RENEWABLE ENERGY CLEAN ENERGY SOLAR ENERGY SOLAR LIGHT RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIAL STUDENT PERFORMANCE EDUCATION HOME STUDY ENVIRONMENT 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. 2020-12-04T19:16:05Z 2020-12-04T19:16:05Z 2019-06 Journal Article World Bank Economic Review 1564-698X http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34872 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research South Asia Bangladesh
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
topic	RENEWABLE ENERGY CLEAN ENERGY SOLAR ENERGY SOLAR LIGHT RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIAL STUDENT PERFORMANCE EDUCATION HOME STUDY ENVIRONMENT
spellingShingle	RENEWABLE ENERGY CLEAN ENERGY SOLAR ENERGY SOLAR LIGHT RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIAL STUDENT PERFORMANCE EDUCATION HOME STUDY ENVIRONMENT Kudo, Yuya Shonchoy, Abu S. Takahashi, Kazushi Can Solar Lanterns Improve Youth Academic Performance? Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh
geographic_facet	South Asia Bangladesh
description	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.
format	Journal Article
author	Kudo, Yuya Shonchoy, Abu S. Takahashi, Kazushi
author_facet	Kudo, Yuya Shonchoy, Abu S. Takahashi, Kazushi
author_sort	Kudo, Yuya
title	Can Solar Lanterns Improve Youth Academic Performance? Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh
title_short	Can Solar Lanterns Improve Youth Academic Performance? Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh
title_full	Can Solar Lanterns Improve Youth Academic Performance? Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh
title_fullStr	Can Solar Lanterns Improve Youth Academic Performance? Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh
title_full_unstemmed	Can Solar Lanterns Improve Youth Academic Performance? Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh
title_sort	can solar lanterns improve youth academic performance? experimental evidence from bangladesh
publisher	Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank
publishDate	2020
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34872
_version_	1764481834120380416

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

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