{"type":"script","doc_desc":{"producers":[{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","abbr":"DECDI","affiliation":"World Bank - Development Impact Department","role":"Verification and preparation of metadata"}],"prod_date":"2026-05-07","version":"1"},"project_desc":{"authoring_entity":[{"name":"Megan Lang","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"mlang@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Alpha Ly","affiliation":"ENSAI - CREST","email":"alpha.ly@dauphine.eu"}],"title_statement":{"title":"Reproducibility package for Financial Inclusion And Electricity Uptake: Global Evidence And District-Level Mechanisms","idno":"RR_WLD_2026_630"},"data_statement":"Some data is limited-access and has not been included in the reproducibility package. For more details, refer to the README file.","software":[{"name":"Stata","version":"19.5 MP"},{"name":"QGIS"}],"scripts":[{"title":"Reproducibility package for Financial Inclusion And Electricity Uptake: Global Evidence And District-Level Mechanisms","date":"2026-05","notes":"Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.","instructions":"See README in reproducibility package.","file_name":"RR_WLD_2026_630","zip_package":"RR_WLD_2026_630.zip","dependencies":"Stata dependencies are listed in the ado folder."}],"repository_uri":[{"name":"Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank)","uri":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org"}],"production_date":"2026-05-07","abstract":"Even as governments push to build infrastructure to achieve universal access to electricity, demand-side barriers constrain uptake where infrastructure already exists. This paper assess the impact of the quasi-experimental introduction of mobile money on electricity adoption by households. Leveraging a cross-country panel of 180 non-OECD countries, we first employ a heterogeneous difference-in-differences estimator to document a significant and positive association between mobile money introduction and electrification, particularly in rural areas. To overcome identification challenges and understand mechanisms, we complement this with a granular district-level analysis of 33 sub-Saharan African countries that leverages differential sub-national mobile network coverage. We find that mobile money access improves district-level power uptake by around 24% relative to the similar districts without mobile money access. We rule out supply-side infrastructure expansion as the primary driver. Instead, evidence suggests demand-side channels\u2013specifically reduced financial frictions and increased remittances\u2013drive this relationship. Furthermore, we highlight the enabling role of mobile network coverage and the detrimental impact of mobile money taxes on electrification efforts.","geographic_units":[{"name":"World","code":"WLD"}],"keywords":[{"name":"Mobile Money"},{"name":"Financial Inclusion"},{"name":"Electrification"},{"name":"Demand-Side Factors"}],"topics":[{"id":"O16","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Financial Markets \u2022 Saving and Capital Investment \u2022 Corporate Finance and Governance","parent_id":"O1"},{"id":" O33","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Technological Change: Choices and Consequences \u2022 Diffusion Processes","parent_id":"O3"},{"id":" Q40","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"General","parent_id":"Q4"}],"output":[{"type":"Working Paper","description":"Policy Research Working Papers (PRWP)","title":"Financial Inclusion And Electricity Uptake: Global Evidence And District-Level Mechanisms","authors":"Megan Lang and Alpha Ly"}],"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":"MIT License","uri":"https:\/\/opensource.org\/license\/mit"},{"name":"World Bank IGO Rider","uri":"https:\/\/github.com\/worldbank\/metadata-editor\/blob\/main\/WB-IGO-RIDER.md"}],"contacts":[{"name":"Megan Lang","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"mlang@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"reproducibility@worldbank.org"}],"reproduction_instructions":"To reproduce the findings in this paper, a replicator must:\n1. **Secure Access to Data:** Access the datasets not included in the package. See the Datasets section for more details.\n2. **Run the Package:** Update the working directory in line 16 of the do-file `Replication` do file, and run it.\n\nSince some of the original data cannot be redistributed, the package includes the outputs produced by the authors, which can be used to review the results presented in the paper.","technology_requirements":"Run time: ~1 hour.","technology_environment":"Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:\n\u2022 OS: Windows 11 Enterprise\n\u2022 Processor: INTEL(R) XEON(R) PLATINUM 8562Y+ 2.80 GHz (2 processors)\n\u2022 Memory available: 32.0 GB\n\u2022 Software version: Stata 19.5 MP","datasets":[{"name":"GSMA Mobile Money Metrics","uri":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/mobile-money-metrics\/","citation":"GSMA. GSMA Mobile Money Metrics [dataset]. Available at https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/mobile-money-metrics\/. Accessed 2023. ","note":"Data accessed in 2023. Filename: Mobi_money.xlsx. File location: Global level\\Bases_Used and District level\\4_Country_Bases_Used. The Mobile Money Regulatory Index dataset is no longer available on the website but is included in the reproducibility package.","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license":"Open access"},{"name":"World Development Indicators","uri":"https:\/\/databank.worldbank.org\/source\/world-development-indicators","citation":"World Bank. 2023. World Development Indicators [dataset]. Available at https:\/\/databank.worldbank.org\/source\/world-development-indicators. Accessed 2023. ","license_uri":"https:\/\/datacatalog.worldbank.org\/public-licenses","license":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY 4.0)","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","note":"Filename: P_Data_Extract_From_WDI_2.xlsx, P_Data_Extract_From_WDI_2_female.xlsx. File location: Global level\\Bases_Used and  District level\\4_Country_Bases_Used. Indicators used: Access to electricity, rural (% of rural population), Access to electricity, urban\n(% of urban population), Access to electricity (% of population), Personal remittances, received (billions current USD), Households and NPISHs final consumption expenditure (% of GDP), Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP), General government final\nconsumption expenditure (% of GDP), External debt stocks (% of GNI), Inflation, GDP deflator (annual %), Inflation, GDP deflator: linked series (annual %), GDP(constant 2015 USD), GDP per capita (constant 2015 USD), Labor tax and contributions (% of commercial profits), Inflation, consumer prices (annual %)."},{"name":"International Energy Statistics","note":"Filename: us_eia_final.xlsx. File located in Global level\\Bases_Used and District level\\4_Country_Bases_Used. Indicators used: Electricity installed capacity (million kW) and electricity net generation (billion kWh). Years: 1990-2021. ","uri":"https:\/\/www.eia.gov\/international\/data\/world","citation":"U.S. Energy Information Administration. International Energy Statistics [dataset]. Available at https:\/\/www.eia.gov\/international\/data\/world\/. Accessed 2023. ","license":"EIA Copyrights and Reuse Policy","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.eia.gov\/about\/copyrights_reuse.php","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package."},{"name":"World Inequality Database (WID)","uri":"https:\/\/wid.world\/","note":"Filename: wealth_top10.dta. Located in Global level\\Bases_Used. Indicator used: Wealth inequality, Top 10% share. Years: 1990-2021.","citation":"World Inequality Lab. World Inequality Database [dataset]. Indicator accessed: Wealth inequality, Top 10% share. Available at https:\/\/wid.world\/. Accessed 2023. ","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license_uri":"https:\/\/wid.world\/wid-world-2\/","license":"World Inequality Database"},{"name":"Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)","note":"File Location: District level\\1_DHS_Raw. Access instructions: Select \"Register\", then \"Create New Project\", choosing the SSA region and the period 2003-2021. Choose \"Download Manager - Download Multiple Surveys\", then select \"HR - Household Recode\", \"PR - Household Member (Person) Recode\", \"IR - Individual Recode (Women)\", and \"MR - Men's Recode\". Check all countries, select the Stata system file, build the URL file list, and Copy and paste the list into your download manager (ours is Chrono) to download the datasets. Download HR, IR, MR, and PR recode files from the given URL. Do not rename the files, just save them in the folder (District level\\1_DHS_Raw).","uri":"https:\/\/dhsprogram.com\/data\/dataset_admin\/index.cfm","citation":"ICF International. Demographic and Health Surveys [dataset]. Available at :https:\/\/dhsprogram.com\/data\/dataset_admin\/index.cfm. Accessed 2023.","access_type":"Data is publicly available but does not allow redistribution and is not included in the reproducibility package.","license":"DHS Terms of Use","license_uri":"https:\/\/dhsprogram.com\/data\/terms-of-use.cfm"},{"name":"Mobile Coverage Explorer Data","uri":"https:\/\/www.collinsbartholomew.com\/mobile-network-coverage-map-data-technical-detail\/","note":"File location: District level\\5_Network_data. Access instructions: Download the GSM (1998\u20132020), 3G (2006\u20132020), and 4G (2013\u20132020) datasets from the given URL above. Extract the .dbf databases using QGIS and save them following this naming convention: GID55_Global_3G_YYYY, ADM1_Global_3G_YYYY, ADM2_Global_3G_YYYY, where YYYY is the corresponding year. Apply the same procedure to GSM and 4G.","citation":"Collins Bartholomew. Mobile Coverage Explorer Dataset [dataset]. Available at https:\/\/www.collinsbartholomew.com\/mobile-coverage-explorer\/. Accessed 2023.","access_type":"Data access requires purchase or human approval and is not included in the reproducibility package.","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.collinsbartholomew.com\/mobile-network-coverage-map-data-technical-detail\/","license":"Mobile Coverage Explorer Data Technical Information"},{"name":"Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11","note":"File location: District level\\5_Network_POP_data. Access instructions: Download the population density raster files from the URL above (2000\u20132020). Extract them at the GID55 level (55x55 grid) using QGIS, then save each file following this naming convention: CEDAC_POPYYYY, where YYYY is the corresponding year. Save a copy of the network data processed above at the GID55 level (55x55 grid) only, using the following naming convention: Global_GSM_YYYY, Global_3G_YYYY, Global_4G_YYYY, where YYYY is the corresponding year.","citation":"Center For International Earth Science Information Network-CIESIN-Columbia University. (2017). Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11 (Version 4.11) [dataset]. Palisades, NY: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.7927\/H49C6VHW. Accessed 2023.","uri":"https:\/\/www.earthdata.nasa.gov\/data\/catalog\/sedac-ciesin-sedac-gpwv4-popdens-r11-4.11","access_type":"Data is publicly available but does not allow redistribution and is not included in the reproducibility package.","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.earthdata.nasa.gov\/data\/catalog\/sedac-ciesin-sedac-gpwv4-popdens-r11-4.11","license":"NASA Earth Data Data Access"},{"name":"World Bank Country and Lending Groups Classification","uri":"https:\/\/ddh-openapi.worldbank.org\/resources\/DR0095333\/download ","note":"Data accessed in 2023. Filename: Region_IncomeGp.dta. File location: Global level\\Bases_Used","license":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)","license_uri":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/","citation":"World Bank. World Bank Country and Lending Groups Classification [dataset]. Available at https:\/\/datahelpdesk.worldbank.org\/knowledgebase\/articles\/906519-world-bank-country-and-lending-groups. Accessed 2023. ","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package."},{"name":"Country classifications based on African Union and OECD","note":"Data accessed in 2023. Filename: Monde.xls. File location: Global level\\Bases_Used. Monde.xls consolidates four country-level dummy classifications: Afrique \u2013 African countries (See African Union Member States: https:\/\/au.int\/en\/member_states\/countryprofiles2), OCDE \u2013 OECD member states, reflecting membership as of 2016\u2013early 2018 (See OECD \u201cMembers and Partners\u201d: https:\/\/www.oecd.org\/en\/about\/members-partners.html), PED (Pays en d\u00e9veloppement) \u2013 developing economies, operationally defined as the complement of OECD membership, Havens \u2013 tax havens from the OECD list of 2 April 2009 (See Table 1 in Jackson, J.K. (2010), The OECD Initiative on Tax Havens, CRS Report R40114: https:\/\/www.everycrsreport.com\/reports\/R40114.html).\n","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license":"Open access","citation":"Authors' compilation. 2026. Country classifications based on African Union and OECD [dataset]. Based on African Union Member States, OECD Members and partners, OECD PED classification and, OECD Initiative on Tax Havens. Accessed 2023."},{"name":"Demographic and Health Surveys Sub-Saharan Africa survey clusters (2003\u20132021)","note":"Filenames: SSA_DHSClusters_Grids_ADM_SHPiso.dbf (and accompanying .shp \/ .shx \/ .prj). File location: District level\\6_SSA_DHSClusters_Grids_ADM_SHPiso. Used to create a merged shapefile called SSA_DHSClusters_Grids_ADM_SHPiso.dbf, district-level analysis dataset SSA_Clusters_Grids.dta and produce Figure 5. See README for further details.","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license":"DHS Terms of Use","license_uri":"https:\/\/dhsprogram.com\/data\/terms-of-use.cfm","uri":"https:\/\/dhsprogram.com\/data\/dataset_admin\/index.cfm","citation":"ICF International. Demographic and Health Surveys Sub-Saharan Africa survey clusters (2003\u20132021) [dataset]. Available at :https:\/\/dhsprogram.com\/data\/dataset_admin\/index.cfm. Accessed 2023."},{"name":"GADM administrative boundaries: Africa","uri":"https:\/\/gadm.org\/download_world.html","note":"File location: District level\\4_Country_Bases_Used\\Africa_shp and District level\\7_MoMo_Repository\\Figures_Tables\\Figure 5\\shapefiles. Used to create a merged shapefile called SSA_DHSClusters_Grids_ADM_SHPiso.dbf, district-level analysis dataset SSA_Clusters_Grids.dta and produce Figure 5. See README for further details.","license_uri":"https:\/\/gadm.org\/license.html","license":"GADM license","access_type":"Data is publicly available but does not allow redistribution and is not included in the reproducibility package.","citation":"GADM. GADM administrative boundaries: Africa. Available at https:\/\/gadm.org\/download_world.html. Accessed 2023."},{"uri":"https:\/\/grid.prio.org\/","citation":"Tollefsen, Andreas For\u00f8; H\u00e5vard Strand & Halvard Buhaug (2012) PRIO-GRID: A unified spatial data structure. Journal of Peace Research, 49(2): 363-374. doi:10.1177\/0022343311431287. Accessed 2023. ","license":"Open access","license_uri":"https:\/\/grid.prio.org\/#\/extensions","access_type":"Data is publicly available but not included in the reproducibility package due to file size constraints.","name":"PRIO-GRID cell shapefile","note":"File name: priogrid_cellshp. Used to create a merged shapefile called SSA_DHSClusters_Grids_ADM_SHPiso, district-level analysis dataset SSA_Clusters_Grids.dta and produce Figure 5. See README for further details."},{"access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package. ","name":"World Bank Official Boundaries (ADM0, 10m generalization)","citation":"World Bank. World Bank Official Boundaries. Washington, DC [dataset]. Redistributed in: Chen S., Piao X., Xie J., Managi S. (2023). Accessed 2023.","uri":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0315166.s003","license_uri":"https:\/\/datacatalog.worldbank.org\/public-licenses?fragment=cc","license":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0","note":"File location: Global level\\wb_countries_admin0_10m. Downloaded from https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0315166.s003 (Supporting Information of the PLOS ONE article)."}]},"datacite":{"creators":[{"givenName":"Megan","familyName":"Lang","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"World Bank","affiliationIdentifier":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00ae7jd04","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org\/"}]},{"givenName":"Alpha","familyName":"Ly","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"ENSAI - CREST","affiliationIdentifier":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00k206f19","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org\/"}]}],"titles":[{"lang":"en","title":"Reproducibility package for Financial Inclusion And Electricity Uptake: Global Evidence And District-Level Mechanisms"},{"title":"RR_WLD_2026_630","titleType":"Other"}],"publisher":"World Bank","publicationYear":"2026","types":{"resourceType":"Reproducibility package","resourceTypeGeneral":"Other"},"url":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org\/index.php\/catalog\/study\/RR_WLD_2026_630","language":"en"},"tags":[{"tag":"DOI"},{"tag":"Limited-access data"},{"tag":"Open Code"}],"schematype":"script"}