My first study investigates how the presence of private infrastructure, such as groundwater pumps, affects the provision of shared infrastructure, such as shared tanks or surface reservoirs. I examine whether formal institutions, such as water pricing instruments, may prevent under-provision of the shared tanks. My findings suggest that in the absence of rules that coordinate tank maintenance, the presence of private pumps will have a detrimental effect on system productivity and equality. On the other hand, the combination of a fixed groundwater fee and a location-based maintenance fee for tank users can improve system productivity and equality.
The second study examines the effect of power asymmetries between farmers, caused by informal institutions such as caste, on the persistence of political institutions that govern infrastructure provision. I examined the effect of policy tools, such as non-farm wage employment and informational interventions, on the persistence of two types of political institutions: self-governed and nested. Results suggest that critical regime shifts in political institutions can be generated by either intervening in formal institutions, such as non-farm wage employment, or informal institutions, such as knowledge transmission or learning mechanisms.
The third study investigates how bureaucratic and political corruption affect public good provision. I examine how institutional and environmental factors affect the likelihood of corruption and infrastructure provision. I demonstrate that cracking down on corruption is only beneficial when infrastructure provision is poor. I also show that bureaucratic wages play an important role in curbing extralegal transactions and improving infrastructure provision.
Sub-Saharan Africa faces a persistent energy access crisis, with over 600 million people still lacking electricity. Despite ongoing reforms efforts, inadequate institutional capacity, and socio-political challenges such as political instability continue to limit electrification efforts. Many Sub-Saharan Africa countries struggle with financially insolvent utilities, and inadequate regulatory capacity, preventing effective reform implementation and infrastructure expansion. This has slowed the progress toward universal electrification in the region. This dissertation develops a comprehensive framework integrating geospatial analysis, transmission system modeling, policy evaluation, and comparative institutional analysis to address these challenges. First, it analyzes electricity access in Nigeria using satellite-based nighttime luminosity (NTL) and population datasets, providing a spatial and temporal assessment of electrification trends. Nigeria, which has the largest population without electricity globally, serves as a critical case study for evaluating the impact of key policy interventions on electricity access at both local and national levels, offering a data-driven approach to electrification policy evaluation. Next, the study examines the institutional and regulatory frameworks necessary for power sector transformation in the West African region. While some countries have undertaken electric power sector reforms, such as unbundling utilities, establishing independent regulators, and expanding private sector participation, the region still faces low electricity access and high sectoral inefficiencies. This study identifies the institutional assumptions in of power sector reform which led to sub-optimal outcomes and explores alternative institutional models, including decentralized energy planning, regulatory sandboxing, and contestable electricity markets, for reform implementation to enhance regulatory independence and institutional flexibility. Finally, the study focuses on regional electricity infrastructure planning, necessary to achieve the goals of the African Single Electricity Market (AfSEM). Using the West African Power Pool (WAPP) as a case study, an Integrated Evaluation Framework (IEF) is developed to assess both quantitative technical performance metrics (line utilization, congestion, and connected load) and qualitative socio-political risk factors (political stability, regulatory capacity, and cost allocation mechanisms) of planned transmission infrastructure. By incorporating geospatial political risk data, this study enhances traditional transmission planning methodologies, offering a more realistic framework for transmission expansion planning. By integrating geospatial analysis, comparative institutional analysis, and transmission infrastructure planning, this dissertation provides a structured approach to scaling electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa.