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The financial risks and barriers to electricity infrastructure in Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique: a critical review of the academic literature

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posted on 2023-06-09, 15:30 authored by Julian Gregory, Benjamin SovacoolBenjamin Sovacool
The recent academic literature contains a number of hypotheses, drivers, or explanations to reveal why electricity infrastructure isn’t being developed within sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in the 21st century. In this paper, we argue that this literature is misdirected, or at least incomplete, in how it approaches risk. We hypothesise that this lack of infrastructure development in the region reflects a dearth of investment due to the existence of excessive negative uncertainties or risks – as investment is a function of uncertainty and reward – but that the recent academic literature appears to not appreciate this. To make this argument, we chose a manageable sample of three African countries, which already had a notable body of academic literature concerning them: Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania. Focusing on these countries, we then undertook a systematic review of 815 ‘peer reviewed’ papers published on the academic libraries of Scopus and/or the Web of Science on the topic of electricity, infrastructure, and risk over a five-year period to see how this literature evaluated the problem. Drawing from the most relevant 101 studies within that sample, we critically examine the methodological, conceptual, and empirical aspects of this literature.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Energy Policy

ISSN

0301-4215

Publisher

Elsevier

Volume

125

Page range

145-153

Department affiliated with

  • Accounting and Finance Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2018-10-16

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2019-11-06

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2018-10-16

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