As part of the Vilfredo Pareto Research Seminar series, the International Economics Department at the Geneva Graduate Institute is pleased to invite you to a public talk given by Marijke Verpoorten.
She will present her work titled eCooking for Sustainable Development: Experimental Evidence from Eastern Congo, joint with Sebastien Desbureaux, Lara Collart, Nik Stoop, Raphael Soubeyran, Mathieu Couttenier, Natsuno Shinagawa, Jean de la Croix Kembere Mulwahili, and Christine Musharhamina
Abstract: In this experiment involving 1500 households, we ask whether electric cooking can replace cooking with charcoal. We randomly distribute Electric Pressure Cookers (EPC) to households connected to a green electricity grid in Goma where over 90% of the population relies on charcoal for cooking. The majority of charcoal is illegally produced in protected forests and is an income source for armed groups. Due to the high upfront cost of about 70USD for an EPC, selling the cookers at market price leads to low take up. We use a distribution model with a 100% subsidy provided by Virunga Energies (VE), the green electricity provider. This subsidy is cost-effective for VE: if adoption is sufficiently high, VE can recover the subsidy in less than one year through increased electricity sales. To overcome information gaps and learning cost, we organize demonstration sessions in which beneficiaries learn about the EPCs’ financial and health benefits and can test the cooker. Furthermore, we cross-randomize two additional treatments: (1) a free electricity bundle (5usd) that allows households to try out the EPC at home free of charge, and (2) an environmental and peace nudge that seeks to increase EPC use by highlighting its social benefits.
About the speakeR
Marijke Verpoorten's research focuses on the economic causes and consequences of armed conflict; on natural resources, global supply chains, magicoreligious beliefs; and more broadly, on the economic and institutional development of Sub-Saharan Africa, with a special focus on Rwanda, Benin and DR Congo. She received her Ph.D. in Economics, from the University of Leuven.