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Public Investment in Rural Infrastructure: Some Political Economy Considerations

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  • Moussa P. Blimpo
  • Robin Harding
  • Leonard Wantchekon

Abstract

We have constructed a unique dataset to study the extent of the relationship between political marginalisation, public investment in transport infrastructure, and food security in Benin, Ghana, Mali and Senegal. We first show a strong relation between food security and road infrastructures after controlling for other factors known to affect food security, including climate and land productivity. To trace a potential mechanism by which political marginalisation impacts on food security, we then look at its relation with the allocation of roads within countries. We find support for the argument that political factors affect the location of roads after controlling for the economic importance of the areas, as well as many other factors. This finding is robust to a number of alternative specifications. We conclude that politically marginalised areas have significantly fewer roads, thus supporting our claim that political marginalisation indirectly affects food security, by undermining the quality and the allocation of transport infrastructures. Although we do not establish a causal effect here, this study is the first to empirically substantiate this relationship at the micro-level. Copyright 2013 , Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Moussa P. Blimpo & Robin Harding & Leonard Wantchekon, 2013. "Public Investment in Rural Infrastructure: Some Political Economy Considerations," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 22(suppl_2), pages -83, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jafrec:v:22:y:2013:i:suppl_2:p:-ii83
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jae/ejt015
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    Cited by:

    1. Abbasi ,Mansoureh & Lebrand,Mathilde Sylvie Maria & Mongoue,Arcady Bluette & Pongou,Roland & Zhang,Fan, 2022. "Roads, Electricity, and Jobs: Evidence of Infrastructure Complementarity in Sub-Saharan Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9976, The World Bank.
    2. Tii N. Nchofoung & Simplice A. Asongu & Arsène A. Njamen Kengdo & Elvis D. Achuo, 2022. "Linear and non‐linear effects of infrastructures on inclusive human development in Africa," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 34(1), pages 81-96, March.
    3. Gertler, Paul J & Gonzalez-Navarro, Marco & Gracner, Tadeja & Rothenberg, Alexander, 2022. "Road Maintenance and Local Economic Development: Evidence from Indonesia's Highways," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt8mg7z5kt, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    4. Roberto Bonfatti & Yuan Gu & Steven (S.) Poelhekke, 2019. "Priority Roads: the Political Economy of Africa's Interior-to-Coast Roads," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 19-006/VIII, Tinbergen Institute.
    5. Wigton-Jones, Evan, 2021. "The unintended harms of infrastructure: Opium and road construction in Afghanistan," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 405-424.
    6. Luke Heath Milsom, 2023. "Moving OpportunityLocal Connectivity and Spatial Inequality," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 2303, CEPREMAP.
    7. Junhui Shi & Fang Wang, 2022. "The Effect of High-Speed Rail on Cropland Abandonment in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-16, July.
    8. Gertler, Paul J & Gonzalez-Navarro, Marco & Gracner, Tadeja & Rothenberg, Alexander, 2023. "Road Maintenance and Local Economic Development," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt38m633q0, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    9. Rémi Jedwab & Adam Storeygard, 2022. "The Average and Heterogeneous Effects of Transportation Investments: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa 1960–2010," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(1), pages 1-38.
    10. Claudia N. Berg & Uwe Deichmann & Yishen Liu & Harris Selod, 2017. "Transport Policies and Development," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(4), pages 465-480, April.
    11. Akpan, Uduak & Morimoto, Risako, 2022. "An application of Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) to the prioritization of rural roads to improve rural accessibility in Nigeria," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PB).
    12. Hossein Azadi & Eric Vanhaute, 2019. "Mutual Effects of Land Distribution and Economic Development: Evidence from Asia, Africa, and Latin America," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-15, June.
    13. Wantchekon, Leonard & Riaz, Zara, 2019. "Mobile technology and food access," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 344-356.
    14. Bakker, Craig & Zaitchik, Benjamin F. & Siddiqui, Sauleh & Hobbs, Benjamin F. & Broaddus, Elena & Neff, Roni A. & Haskett, Jonathan & Parker, Cindy L., 2018. "Shocks, seasonality, and disaggregation: Modelling food security through the integration of agricultural, transportation, and economic systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 165-184.
    15. Antonio Estache, 2016. "Institutions for Infrastructure in Developing Countries: What We Know and the Lot We still Need to Know," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2016-27, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

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