The Nexus between Access to Electricity and Growth of Non-agricultural GDP in Bangladesh
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69728/jst.v12.112Keywords:
Non-agricultural GDP, Electricity, Farm Size, Fixed Effect Model, and Feasible Generalized Least Squares.Abstract
Electricity is significant for the non-agricultural sector, as it is power intensive. In this paper, we examine the role of electricity in fostering the development of non-agriculture GDP. We use data from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey to conduct the analysis based on panel data sets generated for 64 districts of Bangladesh over the period from 2000 to 2022. Using econometric methods such as fixed effects, ordinary least squares, panel-corrected standard errors, and feasible generalized least squares, the paper finds that there is a relationship between access to electricity and non-agricultural GDP. The findings show that electricity is pivotal to transitioning the Bangladesh economy from an agrarian-based to a non-agrarian-based economy. Furthermore, there is a positive correlation between access to mobile phones and education, whereas there is a negative correlation between farm size and non-agricultural GDP. The results suggest that access to electricity can be increased by improving infrastructure availability in rural and remote areas to enhance non-farm growth. Public policy, private sector involvement, and government supported efforts for improving educational access, mobile phones access as well as land distribution are also helpful in aiding non-agricultural GDP growth.
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