Rural Roads and Local Economic Development

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Asher, Sam; Novosad, Paul
• 署名单位: Johns Hopkins University; Dartmouth College
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20180268
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 797-823
• 关键词: agricultural productivity; transport costs; poverty; infrastructure; GROWTH; IMPACT; electrification; INVESTMENT; railroads; responses

摘要

Nearly one billion people worldwide live in rural areas without access to national paved road networks. We estimate the impacts of India's $40 billion national rural road construction program using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design and comprehensive house-hold and firm census microdata. Four years after road construction, the main effect of new feeder roads is to facilitate the movement of workers out of agriculture. However, there are no major changes in agricultural outcomes, income, or assets. Employment in village firms expands only slightly. Even with better market connections, remote areas may continue to lack economic opportunities.