IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nex/wpaper/statepanel.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Mutual Causality in Road Network Growth and Economic Development

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Iacono
  • David Levinson

    (Nexus (Networks, Economics, and Urban Systems) Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota)

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between the growth of road networks and regional development. We test for mutual causality between the growth of road networks (which are divided functionally into local roads and highways) and changes in county-level population and employment. We employ a panel data set containing observations of road mileage by type for all Minnesota counties over the period 1988 to 2007 to fit a model describing changes in road networks, population and employment. Results indicate that causality runs in both directions between population and local road networks, while no evidence of causality in either direction is found for networks and local employment. We interpret the findings as evidence of a weakening influence of road networks (and transportation more generally) on location, and suggest methods for refining the empirical approach described herein.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Iacono & David Levinson, 2013. "Mutual Causality in Road Network Growth and Economic Development," Working Papers 000112, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    • Handle: RePEc:nex:wpaper:statepanel
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/11299/180063
    File Function: Second version, 2015
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marlon G. Boarnet, 1994. "An Empirical Model Of Intrametropolitan Population And Employment Growth," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(2), pages 135-152, April.
    2. Vickerman, R., 2000. "Evaluation methodologies for transport projects in the United Kingdom," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 7-16, January.
    3. Jiwattanakulpaisarn, Piyapong & Noland, Robert B. & Graham, Daniel J., 2010. "Causal linkages between highways and sector-level employment," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 265-280, May.
    4. David Levinson & Ajay Kumar, 1994. "The Rational Locator: Why Travel Times Have Remained Stable," Working Papers 199402, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    5. Peter Gordon & Ajay Kumar & Harry W. Richardson, 1989. "Congestion, Changing Metropolitan Structure, and City Size in the United States," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 12(1), pages 45-56, April.
    6. Daniel Graham & H. Kim, 2008. "An empirical analytical framework for agglomeration economies," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 42(2), pages 267-289, June.
    7. Giuliano, Genevieve, 1991. "Is Jobs-Housing Balance a Transportation Issue?," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt4874r4hg, University of California Transportation Center.
    8. Edward L. Glaeser & Matthew E. Kahn, 2001. "Decentralized Employment and the Transformation of the American City," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1912, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    9. Piyapong Jiwattanakulpaisarn & Robert B. Noland & Daniel J. Graham & John W. Polak, 2009. "Highway infrastructure and state‐level employment: A causal spatial analysis," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 88(1), pages 133-159, March.
    10. Nathaniel Baum-Snow, 2007. "Did Highways Cause Suburbanization?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(2), pages 775-805.
    11. Cervero, Robert, 1989. "Jobs-Housing Balancing and Regional Mobility," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt7mx3k73h, University of California Transportation Center.
    12. Wendell Cox & Peter Gordon & Christian L. Redfearn, 2008. "Highway Penetration of Central Cities: Not a Major Cause of Suburbanization," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 5(1), pages 32-45, January.
    13. Steinnes, Donald N., 1977. "Causality and intraurban location," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 69-79, January.
    14. White, Michelle J., 1999. "Urban areas with decentralized employment: Theory and empirical work," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: P. C. Cheshire & E. S. Mills (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 36, pages 1375-1412, Elsevier.
    15. McGrath, Daniel T., 2005. "More evidence on the spatial scale of cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 1-10, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rayaprolu, Hema & Levinson, David, 2024. "Co-evolution of public transport access and ridership," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    2. Lennox, James, 2023. "Spatial economic dynamics in transport project appraisal," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    3. Chakrabarti, Sandip, 2018. "Can highway development promote employment growth in India?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1-9.
    4. Pan, Jiamin & Zhao, Xia & Guo, Weisi & Feng, Yuhao & Liu, Yu & Zhu, Jiangling & Fang, Jingyun, 2024. "Characterizing China's road network development from a spatial entropy perspective," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    5. Shafique, Muhammad & Azam, Anam & Rafiq, Muhammad & Luo, Xiaowei, 2021. "Investigating the nexus among transport, economic growth and environmental degradation: Evidence from panel ARDL approach," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 61-71.
    6. Pradhan, Rudra P., 2019. "Investigating the causal relationship between transportation infrastructure, financial penetration and economic growth in G-20 countries," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    7. Qi, Guanqiu & Shi, Wenming & Lin, Kun-Chin & Yuen, Kum Fai & Xiao, Yi, 2020. "Spatial spillover effects of logistics infrastructure on regional development: Evidence from China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 96-114.
    8. Liu, Tie-Ying, 2019. "Spatial structure convergence of China's transportation system," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    9. Baiqing Sun & Ramadhan Kauzen, 2023. "The Impact of Port Infrastructure and Economic Growth in Tanzania: Adopting a Structural Equation Modeling Approach," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440221, January.
    10. Muhammad Shafique & Anam Azam & Muhammad Rafiq & Xiaowei Luo, 2020. "Evaluating the Relationship between Freight Transport, Economic Prosperity, Urbanization, and CO 2 Emissions: Evidence from Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-14, December.
    11. Saba, Charles Shaaba, 2021. "Convergence and transition paths in transportation: Fresh insights from a club clustering algorithm," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 80-93.
    12. An, Zihao & Xie, Bo & Liu, Qiyang, 2023. "No street is an Island: Street network morphologies and traffic safety," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 167-181.
    13. Anyu Chen & Yueran Li & Kunhui Ye & Tianyi Nie & Rui Liu, 2021. "Does Transport Infrastructure Inequality Matter for Economic Growth? Evidence from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-21, August.
    14. Haibing Jiang & David Levinson, 2016. "Accessibility and the Evaluation of Investments on the Beijing Subway," Working Papers 000146, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    15. Sanwei He & Shan Yu & Lei Wang, 2021. "The nexus of transport infrastructure and economic output in city-level China: a heterogeneous panel causality analysis," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 66(1), pages 113-135, February.
    16. Jiao, Jingjuan & Wang, Jiaoe & Zhang, Fangni & Jin, Fengjun & Liu, Wei, 2020. "Roles of accessibility, connectivity and spatial interdependence in realizing the economic impact of high-speed rail: Evidence from China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1-15.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Myung‐Jin Jun, 2009. "Economic Impacts Of Seoul'S Job Decentralization: A Metropolitan Input–Output Analysis," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(2), pages 311-327, May.
    2. Simon Choi & Changkeun Park & JiYoung Park, 2014. "A spatio-temporal analysis of population and employment growth for Southern California," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 52(1), pages 19-40, January.
    3. Pratama, Andhika Putra & Yudhistira, Muhammad Halley & Koomen, Eric, 2022. "Highway expansion and urban sprawl in the Jakarta Metropolitan Area," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    4. Wang, Donggen & Chai, Yanwei & Li, Fei, 2011. "Built environment diversities and activity–travel behaviour variations in Beijing, China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 1173-1186.
    5. Garcia-López, Miquel-Àngel, 2010. "Population suburbanization in Barcelona, 1991-2005: Is its spatial structure changing?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 119-132, June.
    6. Miquel-Àngel García-López, 2010. "The Accessibility City. When Transport Infrastructure Matters in Urban Spatial Structure," Working Papers XREAP2010-01, Xarxa de Referència en Economia Aplicada (XREAP), revised Feb 2010.
    7. Yan Song & Yves Zenou, 2009. "How Do Differences In Property Taxes Within Cities Affect Urban Sprawl?," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(5), pages 801-831, December.
    8. Padeiro, Miguel, 2013. "Transport infrastructures and employment growth in the Paris metropolitan margins," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 44-53.
    9. Evelyn Blumenberg & Fariba Siddiq, 2023. "Commute distance and jobs-housing fit," Transportation, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 869-891, June.
    10. Jiangping, Zhou & Chun, Zhang & Xiaojian, Chen & Wei, Huang & Peng, Yu, 2014. "Has the legacy of Danwei persisted in transformations? the jobs-housing balance and commuting efficiency in Xi’an," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 64-76.
    11. Laurent Gobillon & Harris Selod & Yves Zenou, 2007. "The Mechanisms of Spatial Mismatch," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(12), pages 2401-2427, November.
    12. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2015. "Urban Land Use," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 467-560, Elsevier.
    13. Qin, Ping & Wang, Lanlan, 2019. "Job opportunities, institutions, and the jobs-housing spatial relationship: Case study of Beijing," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 331-339.
    14. Si-ming Li, 2010. "Evolving Residential and Employment Locations and Patterns of Commuting under Hyper Growth: The Case of Guangzhou, China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(8), pages 1643-1661, July.
    15. Cervero, Robert & Duncan, Michael, 2006. "Balanced Growth, Travel Demand, and Physical Activity," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt5c95t59t, University of California Transportation Center.
    16. Rayaprolu, Hema & Levinson, David, 2024. "Co-evolution of public transport access and ridership," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    17. Eric A. Hanushek & Kuzey Yilmaz, 2007. "Schools and Location: Tiebout, Alonso, and Government Policy," NBER Working Papers 12960, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Ortuño-Padilla, Armando & Fernández-Aracil, Patricia, 2013. "Impact of fuel price on the development of the urban sprawl in Spain," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 180-187.
    19. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2014. "The Growth of Cities," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 5, pages 781-853, Elsevier.
    20. Chunil Kim & Choongik Choi, 2019. "Towards Sustainable Urban Spatial Structure: Does Decentralization Reduce Commuting Times?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-28, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    network expansion; economic evaluation; regional growth; rural development; economic development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • R42 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government and Private Investment Analysis; Road Maintenance; Transportation Planning
    • R48 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government Pricing and Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nex:wpaper:statepanel. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: David Levinson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nexmnus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.