Rural Roads and Local Economic Development
American Economic Review · 2020 · Volume 110 · Issue 3
Abstract
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 USD national rural road construction program using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design and comprehensive household 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.
Keywords
Agricultural Labor Markets, Economic Development: Agriculture, Natural Resources, Energy, Environment, Other Primary Products, Economic Development: Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis, Housing, Infrastructure, Urban, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration, Regional Labor Markets, Population, Neighborhood Characteristics, Transportation Economics: Government and Private Investment Analysis, Road Maintenance, Transportation Planning
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