The Role of Publicly Provided Electricity in Economic Development: The Experience of the Tennessee Valley Authority, 1929–1955. (16th May 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kitchens, Carl
• Is Part Of: Journal of economic history. Volume 74:Number 2(2014)
• Page Start: 389
• Page End: 419
• Publication Date: 2014-05-16
• Subjects: Economic history -- Periodicals; 330.9005
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050714000308
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-0507

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="normal"> <title> <x content-type="archive" xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>I study the impacts of one of the largest regional development projects in American History, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), on a variety of economic outcomes. The TVA has been noted as an example of how to develop a region's water power potential to stimulate growth. In what follows, I show using a county-level panel dataset, that the TVA had little impact on economic growth in the South. I attribute these results to the institutional history of the TVA and the contractual agreements it signed in an effort to expand its service territory.</p> <p>"…as a pebble dropped in a pond causes ripples to flow outward to the surrounding shores, the influence of TVA'slow rates flows outward to surrounding areas…"</p> <p> <italic>TVA's Influence on Electric Rates 1965</italic> </p> </abstract>