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PRWP

Reproducibility package for The Role of Market Frictions in Demand for Prepaid Electricity

2025
Get Reproducibility Package
Reference ID
RR_RWA_2025_293
DOI
https://doi.org/10.60572/05rc-wy74
Author(s)
Megan Lang
Collections
World Bank Policy Research Working Papers
Metadata
JSON
Created on
Apr 02, 2025
Last modified
Apr 10, 2025
  • Overview
  • Reproducibility Package
  • Description
  • Scope and coverage
  • Disclaimer
  • Access and rights
  • Contacts
  • Information on metadata
  • Citation

    • Overview

    Abstract

    Prepaid electricity contracts lower enforcement costs but may burden consumers, particularly when market frictions are present. This paper presents the results of a randomized control trial where 2,000 randomly selected, rural Rwandese consumers were offered a line of credit for electricity payments. The line of credit lowered liquidity constraints and transaction costs. Twenty percent of consumers borrowed and demand for the credit was inelastic; however, the line of credit did not change average demand for electricity. Detailed administrative data reveal that consumers primarily used the line of credit to lower transaction costs, suggesting that rural consumers highly value convenience. The results highlight potential Pareto improvements from more flexible prepaid contracts.

    Reproducibility Package

    Scripts
    Get Reproducibility Package
    Title
    Reproducibility Package for The Role of Market Frictions in Demand for Prepaid Electricity
    Dependencies
    All dependencies are included in "renv.lock"
    Source code repository
    Repository name URI
    Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank) https://reproducibility.worldbank.org
    Software
    Name
    R
    Version
    4.4.0

    Reproducibility

    Technology environment

    Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:
    • OS: Windows 10 Enterprise, version 22H2
    • Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6132 CPU @ 2.60GHz 2.60 GHz (2 processors)
    • Memory available: 128 GB
    • Software version: R 4.4.0
    Technology requirements

    ~10 minutes
    Reproduction instructions

    Users will only be able to reproduce Figures A2, A3, and A5 as they rely on publicly available data. To successfully replicate these figures, users must follow these steps:

    1. Download the publicly available data and save them in the correct folders.
    2. Run the script Replication - non-proprietary data.R.
    3. Outputs will be saved in the "Output" folder.

    All other figures and tables require access to restricted data, which the author accessed through a data-sharing agreement with BBOXX Ltd. However, all outputs are included in the "Output" folder. Users can compare these outputs with the exhibits presented in the paper for verification.

    Note: Users have access to all code files, but due to data restrictions, not all scripts will run. The script Replication - proprietary data.R will not run, as it uses restricted data.

    Data

    Datasets
    Name
    Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey (2017)
    Note
    Source: National Institute of Statistics Rwanda Filenames: cs_S0_S5_Household.dta, cs_S1_S2_S3_S4_S6A_S6E_Person.dta, cs_S8A3_expenditure.dta, cs_S8B_expenditure.dta Users can register and download the data directly from the URL provided below and save these files in the `\Data\rwa-nisr-EICV5-data_STATA' folder.
    Access policy
    Publicly available but not included in the reproducibility package.
    License
    Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license
    Data URL
    https://www.statistics.gov.rw/datasource/integrated-household-living-conditions-survey-eicv
    Name
    BBOXX Ltd Administrative Data
    Note
    Source: BBOXX Ltd Filenames: FINAL_Survey.xlsx, 2020 02 19 UR 1.csv, 2020 02 19 UR 2.csv, phone_admin_linked.csv, Clean_Use_RW.Rda, Cur_Cust.Rda, UR.Rda, dr_all.Rda, ids.Rda, ldf_full.Rda, pmt_panel.Rda, ur_enable2.Rda. This data contains customer-level data on system size adopted, date of adoption, who was offered the line of credit, borrowing from the line of credit, and all customer payments in the study period. See README for more details.
    Access policy
    Data is restricted and has not been included in the reproducibility package.
    Data URL
    https://www.bboxx.com/
    Name
    Phone survey data
    Note
    Source: World Bank Filename: ipa_sur.csv, TmtMM.csv Users can download the data directly from the URL provided below and save these files in the `Data' folder.
    Access policy
    Publicly available but not included in the reproducibility package.
    License URL
    https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
    Data URL
    https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/ATY3PU
    Data statement

    Some data is restricted and has not been included in the reproducibility package. For more details, please refer to the README file.

    Description

    Output
    Type
    Working Paper
    Title
    The Role of Market Frictions in Demand for Prepaid Electricity
    Authors
    Megan Lang
    Description
    Policy Research Working Papers (PRWP) WPS11097
    URL
    http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099534204092526611
    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-11097
    Authors
    Author Affiliation Email
    Megan Lang World Bank mlang@worldbank.org
    Date of production

    2025-03-31

    Scope and coverage

    Geographic locations
    Location Code
    Rwanda RWA
    Keywords
    Prepaid electricity liquidity constraints transaction costs solar
    Topics
    ID Topic Parent topic ID Vocabulary Vocabulary URI
    D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis D1 JEL Classifications
    O12 Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development O1 JEL Classifications
    O13 Agriculture • Natural Resources • Energy • Environment • Other Primary Products O1 JEL Classifications

    Disclaimer

    Disclaimer

    The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.

    Access and rights

    License
    Name URI
    Modified BSD3 https://opensource.org/license/bsd-3-clause/

    Contacts

    Contacts
    Name Role Email
    Megan Lang World Bank mlang@worldbank.org
    Reproducibility WBG World Bank reproducibility@worldbank.org

    Information on metadata

    Producers
    Name Abbreviation Affiliation Role
    Reproducibility WBG DIME World Bank - Development Impact Department Verification and preparation of metadata
    Date of Production

    2025-03-31
    Document version

    1

    Citation

    Citation
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