Abstract: Electrification influences economic choices, not least by allowing households to replace labour with capital and to enhance domestic labour productivity. We test whether newly electrified households invested more in children’s human capital formation, proxied by secondary school enrolments, under Ireland’s Rural Electrification Scheme (1947-1966). IV panel regressions examine whether electrification led to higher per capita participation in secondary education. Using a terrain ruggedness instrument, we find large and statistically significant positive effects of electrification on secondary school participation for boys. Results for girls or those using a distance to transmission instrument are not robust to corrections for spatial confounding.
Keywords: Rural electrification, secondary school, human capital, Ireland
JEL classification: I29, N34, O15
Cite as: Míde Griffin, Seán Lyons, Anne Nolan, Rural electrification and secondary school enrolments in Ireland. MPRA Paper No. 124216, April 2025
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