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Flip the Switch: The Impact of the Rural Electrification Administration 1935–1940

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2015

Carl Kitchens  and
Price Fishback
Carl Kitchens
Affiliation:
Carl Kitchens is Assistant Professor of Economics, Florida State University and NBER, 269 Bellamy Building, Tallahassee, FL 32306. E-mail: ckitchens@fsu.edu.
Price Fishback
Affiliation:
Price Fishback is Thomas R. Brown Professor of Economics, University of Arizona and NBER, 401 McClelland Hall, 1130 E Helen St. Tucson, AZ 85721. E-mail: fishback@email.arizona.edu.
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Abstract

To isolate the impact of access to electricity on local economies, we examine the impact of the Rural Electrification Administration low-interest loans in the 1930s. The REA provided loans to cooperatives to lay distribution lines to farms and aid in wiring homes. Consequently, the number of rural farm homes electrified doubled in the United States within five years. We develop a panel data set for the 1930s and use changes within counties over time to identify the effect of the REA loans on a wide range of socio-economic measures. The REA loans contributed significantly to increases in crop output and crop productivity and helped stave off declines in overall farm output, productivity, and land values, but they had much smaller effects on nonagricultural parts of the economy. The ex-ante subsidy from the low-interest loans was large, but after the program was completed, nearly all of the loans were fully repaid, and the ultimate cost to the taxpayer was relatively low.

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Articles
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The Journal of Economic History , Volume 75 , Issue 4 , December 2015 , pp. 1161 - 1195
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2015 

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Footnotes

The authors would like to thank seminar and conference participants at University of Arizona, University of Mississippi, Florida State University, 7th World Congress of Cliometrics, NBER-DAE Spring Program Meeting 2014, and Southern Economic Association Annual Meeting 2013.

References

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