IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/rwirep/628.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Infrastructure and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: A review

Author

Listed:
  • Peters, Jörg

Abstract

This paper reviews the book 'Infrastructure and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa' by Antonio Estache and Quentin Wodon. The authors summarize the political debate on infrastructure policy in Africa in a very compelling and knowledgeable way and make a convincing case for pro-poor subsidies. Yet, this review points out two reservations: The evidence on the welfare enhancing benefits of infrastructure investments is less conclusive than suggested in the book. The book also misses out on the recent technological developments that enable the provision of decentralized services, which might render classical network based infrastructure partly redundant in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Peters, Jörg, 2016. "Infrastructure and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: A review," Ruhr Economic Papers 628, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:rwirep:628
    DOI: 10.4419/86788730
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/144770/1/865268746.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4419/86788730?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Remi Jedwab & Alexander Moradi, 2016. "The Permanent Effects of Transportation Revolutions in Poor Countries: Evidence from Africa," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(2), pages 268-284, May.
    2. Henrik Hansen & Ole Winckler Andersen & Howard White, 2011. "Impact evaluation of infrastructure interventions," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 1-8.
    3. Michael Grimm & Anicet Munyehirwe & Jörg Peters & Maximiliane Sievert, 2017. "A First Step up the Energy Ladder? Low Cost Solar Kits and Household’s Welfare in Rural Rwanda," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 31(3), pages 631-649.
    4. Hugh Waddington & Birte Snilstveit, 2009. "Effectiveness and sustainability of water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions in combating diarrhoea," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(3), pages 295-335.
    5. Banerjee, Abhijit & Duflo, Esther & Qian, Nancy, 2020. "On the road: Access to transportation infrastructure and economic growth in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    6. Ravallion, Martin, 2007. ""Achieving Child-Health-Related Millennium Development Goals: The Role of Infrastructure"--A Comment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 920-928, May.
    7. Jörg Peters & Maximiliane Sievert, 2016. "Impacts of rural electrification revisited – the African context," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 327-345, July.
    8. Esther Duflo & Michael Greenstone & Raymond Guiteras & Thomas Clasen, 2015. "Toilets Can Work: Short and Medium Run Health Impacts of Addressing Complementarities and Externalities in Water and Sanitation," NBER Working Papers 21521, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Enock Yonazi & Tim Kelly & Naomi Halewood & Colin Blackman, 2012. "The Transformational Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Africa," World Bank Publications - Reports 26791, The World Bank Group.
    10. Whittington, Dale & Hanemann, W. Michael & Sadoff, Claudia & Jeuland, Marc, 2009. "The Challenge of Improving Water and Sanitation Services in Less Developed Countries," Foundations and Trends(R) in Microeconomics, now publishers, vol. 4(6–7), pages 469-609, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Jörg Peters, 2017. ", by A. Estache and Q. Wodon," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(3), pages 460-462, March.
    2. Konstantin Buechel, Stephan Kyburz, 2016. "Fast Track to Growth? The Impact of Railway Access on Regional Economic Development in 19th Century Switzerland," Diskussionsschriften credresearchpaper12, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft - CRED.
    3. Stephan Maurer & Ferdinand Rauch, 2023. "Economic geography aspects of the Panama Canal," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 75(1), pages 142-162.
    4. Yoshifumi Konishi & Akari Ono, 2024. "Do Winners Win More from Transport Megaprojects? Evidence from the Great Seto Bridge in Japan," Keio-IES Discussion Paper Series 2024-018, Institute for Economics Studies, Keio University.
    5. Bensch, Gunther & Grimm, Michael & Huppertz, Maximilian & Langbein, Jörg & Peters, Jörg, 2018. "Are promotion programs needed to establish off-grid solar energy markets? Evidence from rural Burkina Faso," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 1060-1068.
    6. Laura Maravall Buckwalter, 2018. "Build it and they will come? Secondary railways and population density in French Algeria," Working Papers 18008, Economic History Society.
    7. Mehic, Adrian, 2024. "Infrastructure Expansion, Tourism, and Electoral Outcomes," Working Paper Series 1490, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    8. Latika Chaudhary & Fenske, James, 2020. "Did railways affect literacy? Evidence from India," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 529, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    9. Blimpo, Moussa P. & Postepska, Agnieszka & Xu, Yanbin, 2020. "Why is household electricity uptake low in Sub-Saharan Africa?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    10. Berger, Thor & Enflo, Kerstin, 2017. "Locomotives of local growth: The short- and long-term impact of railroads in Sweden," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 124-138.
    11. Konstantin Büchel & Stephan Kyburz, 2018. "Fast track to growth? Railway access, population growth and local displacement in 19th century Switzerland," CEP Discussion Papers dp1538, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    12. Fenske, James & Kala, Namrata & Wei, Jinlin, 2023. "Railways and cities in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    13. Taylor Jaworski & Carl T. Kitchens, 2019. "National Policy for Regional Development: Historical Evidence from Appalachian Highways," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(5), pages 777-790, December.
    14. Okoye, Dozie & Pongou, Roland & Yokossi, Tite, 2016. "On the Dispensability of New Transportation Technologies: Evidence from Colonial Railroads in Nigeria," MPRA Paper 75262, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Djemaï, Elodie & Clark, Andrew E. & D’Ambrosio, Conchita, 2024. "Take the Highway? Paved roads and well-being in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    16. Pushkar Maitra & William Yu, 2021. "The Long Shadow of Infrastructure Development: Long Run Effects of Railway Construction in Colonial India," Monash Economics Working Papers 2021-01, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    17. Beyene, Abebe D. & Mekonnen, Alemu & Jeuland, Marc & Czakon, Sebastian, 2024. "Socioeconomic impacts of solar home systems in rural Ethiopia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    18. Matthias Flückiger & Markus Ludwig, 2019. "Transport infrastructure, growth and persistence: The rise and demise of the Sui Canal," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(2), pages 624-666, May.
    19. Braun, Sebastian Till & Franke, Richard, 2022. "Railways, Growth, and Industrialization in a Developing German Economy, 1829–1910," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(4), pages 1183-1221, December.
    20. Meriggi, Niccolò F. & Bulte, Erwin & Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq, 2021. "Subsidies for technology adoption: Experimental evidence from rural Cameroon," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    electrification; road infrastructure; water and sanitation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • L91 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Transportation: General
    • L95 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Gas Utilities; Pipelines; Water Utilities
    • L96 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Telecommunications

    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:zbw:rwirep:628. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rwiesde.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.