{"type":"script","doc_desc":{"producers":[{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","abbr":"DECDI","affiliation":"World Bank - Development Impact Department","role":"Verification and preparation of metadata"}],"prod_date":"2025-12-18","version":"1"},"project_desc":{"authoring_entity":[{"name":"Stuti Khemani","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"skhemani@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Andu Berha","affiliation":"University of Alberta","email":"anduberha2@gmail.com"}],"title_statement":{"title":"Reproducibility package for Unreliable Electricity In Developing Countries: The Role Of Weak Institutions","idno":"RR_WLD_2025_517"},"data_statement":"Some data is limited-access and has not been included in the reproducibility package. For more details, please refer to the README file. ","software":[{"name":"Stata","version":"18.5 MP"}],"scripts":[{"title":"Reproducibility package for Unreliable Electricity In Developing Countries: The Role Of Weak Institutions","date":"2025-12","notes":"Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.","instructions":"See README in reproducibility package.","file_name":"RR_WLD_2025_517","zip_package":"RR_WLD_2025_517.zip","dependencies":"R dependencies are listed in the file renv.lock. Stata dependencies are listed in the ado folder."}],"repository_uri":[{"name":"Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank)","uri":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org"}],"production_date":"2025-12-18","abstract":"Unreliable electricity supply in developing countries is a persistent problem with significant adverse consequences for economic growth. This paper uses a novel database on utilities, which provides systematic data on reliability, and links it to available data on country-level institutions to provide new evidence on variation in reliability across countries. The data reveal that utilities located in countries with weak institutions for controlling corruption perform significantly worse at delivering reliable electricity. The data also show that privately owned utilities perform better than publicly owned ones, consistent with standard reforms of privatization that are pursued to overcome governance problems. However, private ownership is less likely in countries with higher control of corruption, where public utilities perform better than their counterparts in countries with weaker institutions. Regardless of ownership, the estimates suggest that any given utility is likely to perform worse over time when the country in which they are located has weaker institutions. The paper forges links with available case studies to discuss potential mechanisms that may account for the correlations revealed in the data, yielding forward-looking ideas for how to turn around utility performance in weak institutional contexts.","geographic_units":[{"name":"World","code":"WLD"}],"keywords":[{"name":"Electricity Reliability"},{"name":"Corruption"},{"name":"Institutions"},{"name":"Utility Reform"}],"topics":[{"id":"L94","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Electric Utilities","parent_id":"L9"},{"id":" D73","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Bureaucracy \u2022 Administrative Processes in Public Organizations \u2022 Corruption","parent_id":"D7"},{"id":" L33","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Comparison of Public and Private Enterprises and Nonprofit Institutions \u2022 Privatization \u2022 Contracting Out","parent_id":"L3"},{"id":" O43","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Institutions and Growth","parent_id":"O4"}],"output":[{"type":"Working Paper","description":"Policy Research Working Papers (PRWP)","title":"Unreliable Electricity In Developing Countries: The Role Of Weak Institutions"}],"language":[{"name":"English","code":"EN"}],"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.","license":[{"name":"Modified BSD3","uri":"https:\/\/opensource.org\/license\/bsd-3-clause\/"}],"contacts":[{"name":"Stuti Khemani","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"skhemani@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"reproducibility@worldbank.org"}],"datasets":[{"name":"World Development Indicators (WDI)","uri":"https:\/\/databank.worldbank.org\/source\/world-development-indicators","access_type":"Publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0","license_uri":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/","citation":"World Bank. (n.d). \"World Development Indicators\" [Dataset]. World Bank. Available at https:\/\/databank.worldbank.org\/source\/world-development-indicators.","note":"Access date: July 2025.\nIndicators used are GDP per capita and population density.\nData file: wdi_income_data.csv"},{"name":"UPBEAT Utility Performance Data","license":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0","license_uri":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/","uri":"https:\/\/utilityperformance.energydata.info\/utilities\/","note":"Access date: July 2025","access_type":"Publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","citation":"World Bank; Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP). (2025). \"UPBEAT Utility Performance Data\" [Dataset]. World Bank. Available at https:\/\/utilityperformance.energydata.info\/."},{"name":"Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI)","uri":"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/publication\/worldwide-governance-indicators","citation":"World Bank. (2025). \"Worldwide Governance Indicators, 2025 Revision\" [Dataset]. World Bank. Available at www.govindicators.org.","license":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0","license_uri":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/","access_type":"Publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","note":"Access date: June 2025\nData file: wgidataset.dta"},{"name":"ICRG Governance Data","access_type":"Data access requires purchase and is not included in the reproducibility package.","uri":"https:\/\/epub.prsgroup.com\/products\/icrg\/international-country-risk-guide-icrg","note":"Access date: June 2025.\nData is proprietary to PRS Group. External users must obtain licensed access directly from the PRS Group.\nWorld Bank Group users may access ICRG through the WBG Library by searching\n\u201cpolitical risk\u201d and navigating to the ICRG Country Data interface.\nData file: ICRG_data.xlsx","citation":"PRS Group, Inc. (n.d.). \"International Country Risk Guide (ICRG)\" [Dataset]. Available at https:\/\/epub.prsgroup.com\/products\/icrg\/international-country-risk-guide-icrg."},{"name":"World Bank Region Classification","note":"Access date: June 2025\nData file: WB_list_of_economies.xlsx.","access_type":"Publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0","license_uri":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/","uri":"https:\/\/databankfiles.worldbank.org\/public\/ddpext_download\/site-content\/CLASS.xlsx","citation":"World Bank. (n.d.). \"World Bank Region Classification\" [Dataset]. World Bank. Available at https:\/\/datacatalogfiles.worldbank.org\/ddh-published\/0037712\/DR0090755\/CLASS.xlsx"},{"name":"World Bank Income Group Classification","license":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0","license_uri":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/","access_type":"Publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","note":"Access date: June 2025.\nData file: income_group_classification.xlsx.","citation":"World Bank. (n.d.). \"World Bank Income Group Classification\" [Dataset]. World Bank. Available at \nhttps:\/\/datahelpdesk.worldbank.org\/knowledgebase\/articles\/906519-world-bank-country-and-lending-groups.","uri":"https:\/\/ddh-openapi.worldbank.org\/resources\/DR0095334\/download"}],"reproduction_instructions":"To reproduce the findings in this study, please follow the steps below:\n1. Acquire the limited-access data and place it in the `Data` folder as `ICRG_data.xlsx`.\n2. Change the paths at the beginning of each do file.\n3. Run `main_script.do`.","technology_requirements":"~4 minutes runtime","technology_environment":"Paper exhibits were reproduced in one computer with the following specifications:\nOS: Windows 11 Enterprise\nProcessor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 5218 CPU @2.30GHz\nMemory available: 6 GB"},"tags":[{"tag":"DOI"},{"tag":"Open Code"},{"tag":"Restricted Data"}],"schematype":"script"}